Midweek rant: A plea from a lowly pedestrian

[webfact]

Midweek rant: A plea from a lowly pedestrian

 

 

It’s not that I’m not grateful for the wonderful train being built outside my front door.

 

It's not that I can’t wait for three or four years until it’s finished. It’s not that I can’t put up with the traffic and the mayhem that all the building is causing.

 

It’s not even that I am so unhappy with the state of the bumpy footpath full of holes – at least clearing it of vendors has made it a bit easier to walk.

I can even put up with the flooding.

It’s just that when I am out with my daughter and her buggy I can’t really go anywhere any more.

Are we expected to be some kind of prisoners in our soi and immediate area for the next several years…until things get better?

You see, I might not have many years left and I want to make use of the time I have to try and enjoy life a bit with my kids.

If I perch them on my motorbike I worry. If I get in the car we can’t move anyway.

I don’t ask much – I just want to go out for a walk.

My daughter feels the same. She'd tell you herself it's just that she is only one.

I refer specifically to the building of the Green Line extension to Saphan Mai in the Ratchayothin area – but my plea is applicable to other construction projects throughout the country.

Around here all the pedestrian overpasses have been taken out. I get that.

But what did you replace them with – a few holes in the construction fences where pedestrians could dash across if they saw a chink of light in the onrushing cars.

Yes, I know you call them Zebra Crossings – it’s just that nobody stops. They never have. Unless perhaps you’re killed on the road and even then they might not stop.

There’s a sign on one disused bridge that says I can cross 15 meters ahead – I’d do that if I had a death wish and wanted to see the back of my one year old daughter. I don’t. Anyway, I remember seeing a video of some tourists in Chiang Mai doing that. It kinda scared me.

I’d rather cross, if possible, with a modicum of safety.

You see there are some lovely places to get to nearby where we used to go before you started improving things.

The gardens at SCB with the fountains and the museum. The pond with all its animals and the well maintained aquarium at Kaset University. The playground on the other side of Pahonyothin Road.

But I can’t get there anymore. I am afraid my kids will be teenagers before I can cross the road again.

I am not asking for much.

Just a bit of consideration.

I know all Thais are world famous for that. I see it every day with the ordinary people in the streets trying to cope with the mess. They open doors for me and say lovely things about my daughter as they try to help on small flights of stairs.

So how about a sequence in the lights to give pedestrians a chance to cross the road while the cars and bikes wait for a minute. Even thirty seconds would be OK.

Then we could hurry to the other side – I can still step on it a bit despite the dodgy farang back I hurt falling in one of your potholes recently.

And it’s not just me and my buggy. I imagine that anyone in a wheelchair would just have to live somewhere else.

Even the most able-bodied people along with the rest of us are finding it difficult enough.

Oh and another thing – it’s nothing really. Could you make sure those orange crane like things on top of the pylons are tied on with a few nuts and bolts. You see a couple of them, actually three, have fallen on pedestrians and workers in the area in the last few months.

Four people won’t be walking anywhere in the future after that. Maybe someone forgot – please have a word. Throughout the city and in the rest of the country we are glad that one day we shall have some extensive public transport to be proud of.

 

But for now could you just spare a thought for our lives as lowly pedestrians. And at least help us to walk safely in our towns and cities.

 

And get from A to B.

And maybe even back home again….. Alive, if possible.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-05-31

[berybert]

If you are to old to cross the road you were probably to old to have a baby.

[Suttisan]

The frustrations of living in a turd world country, do your kids a favour and give them a decent life back in the west. 

[chicowoodduck]

You make perfect sense to me....I live on the edge here in Pattaya....about once a month I get hit by a motorbike, car or truck and every single day it is a near miss for me.....???

 

My main wish is just to be able to survive until it is time to head back across the pond to sanity? I'm am counting the day until the first of July.....am sure to go with the thought of never looking back and hope that the nightmares stay in LOS......???

Edited May 31, 2017 by chicowoodduck

[richard_smith237]

10 hours ago, berybert said:

If you are to old to cross the road you were probably to old to have a baby.

Idiotic comment of the day (week or even year)... Who is going to chance crossing the road with a child in a push-chair ?

 

This has nothing to do with age and everything to do with ensuring the safety of your child. 

 

 

If a mother and child were to be hit crossing the road it is posters such as you who find themselves entertaining a great opportunity to criticize them.

 

Please recognize the issue for what it is, its not about age, its about being able to walk the streets and cross them safely,  for in many cases even a fully fit healthy 25 year old still has to take a chance negotiating passing traffic when crossing the road. 

 

 

 

[aussie11950]

Well said.

I hope someone shares this on Facebook to the Bangkok authorities.

 

[lungnorm]

It's all part of the fun living Thailand.

[masuk]

12 hours ago, berybert said:

If you are to old to cross the road you were probably to old to have a baby.

The only safe way to cross many of the roads is to be in a Sherman tank!

Even then, some fool would drive into you.

[bazza73]

Why is life so hard for some people? Move to a location which is not undergoing construction, rent and relax.

If you are an owner, I guess you'll just have to suck it up, Princess. Goes with the territory.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Finally... a ThaiVisa headline that got it right....

 

Pedestrians are indeed a "lowly" lot in Thailand, certainly lower than car drivers, motorcycle drivers, som tam / shoe repair / sewing machine street stall operators, and just about anyone/anything else you can possibly throw onto the sidewalk.

 

[Freed1948]

4 hours ago, aussie11950 said:

Well said.

I hope someone shares this on Facebook to the Bangkok authorities.

 

Done that with the construction along Charonsanitwong. NO response.

[timendres]

I truly sympathize with your problem. And your post was well written. Sadly, it is very unlikely anything will be done.

 

Were I in your shoes, I would look to hire a local who would be daring enough and smart enough to help ensure your safe crossing by halting traffic for you for a reasonable fee. It is a ridiculous thing to be required to do, and an expense that should not be necessary, but it is a solution.

[mok199]

I felt the same way ..when they widened beach rd 4 years ago,my boy was born amist all the chaos and I was continually fighting with retarded thai bus drivers who parked over the only place to cross to the beach,,it almost came to blows several times...my boy is 3 now ...we managed..its tough for everyone I have 2 friends In wheelchairs they too manage but with all this new tour bus chaos. that new ''fast lane''  was a game changer, beach rd became beach rd/motorway...but ...hopefully the future will be better....

[speedtripler]

18 hours ago, berybert said:

If you are to old to cross the road you were probably to old to have a baby.

Well, now I know where I can find a heartless b@stsrd,if Im ever in  need of one....

[berybert]

1 hour ago, speedtripler said:

Well, now I know where I can find a heartless b@stsrd,if Im ever in  need of one....

Tell that to a teenager who's old man has died of old age.

[me313]

Isn't there something like a Thai City Hall you and your neighbors can go to with a petition to have them install safety measures? The Thai people are not that "primitive" that they won't accept a petition for pedestrians, and I can't believe there is no recourse for any such avenue of redress of this issue? Perhaps spending time trying to go through some channels and gathering signatures on a petition would be more productive than a "rant" on this forum where people write humorous insults about your age and the "turd" country world living.

[funandsuninbangkok]

Quit whining and move

[thaibeachlovers]

23 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Idiotic comment of the day (week or even year)... Who is going to chance crossing the road with a child in a push-chair ?

 

This has nothing to do with age and everything to do with ensuring the safety of your child. 

 

 

If a mother and child were to be hit crossing the road it is posters such as you who find themselves entertaining a great opportunity to criticize them.

 

Please recognize the issue for what it is, its not about age, its about being able to walk the streets and cross them safely,  for in many cases even a fully fit healthy 25 year old still has to take a chance negotiating passing traffic when crossing the road. 

 

 

 

Seems like a good post to reply to.

Who is going to chance crossing the road with a child in a push-chair ?

Exactly. How many Thais do you se pushing a baby buggy? None would be a realistic response ( not counting Thai women married to farangs ).

There is a reason for that.

While I thought this thread was about pedestrians per se, I find it's from a farang that wants Thailand to be like back home- hmmmmmmm.

It's Thailand- either carry the kid like they do, or if a baby buggy is a necessity, move to somewhere that one can use one.

Can't move because one bought the house, well LOL.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, me313 said:

Isn't there something like a Thai City Hall you and your neighbors can go to with a petition to have them install safety measures? The Thai people are not that "primitive" that they won't accept a petition for pedestrians, and I can't believe there is no recourse for any such avenue of redress of this issue? Perhaps spending time trying to go through some channels and gathering signatures on a petition would be more productive than a "rant" on this forum where people write humorous insults about your age and the "turd" country world living.

With only a few posts you may not realise that pedestrians don't count in Thailand. Only the poor ( and farangs ) walk and are therefore not worth worrying about.

I recently got on a baht bus in Pattaya and had to wait 15 minutes for it to fill up before moving. Two girls that were already on the baht bus got off 200 meters down the road!

[YetAnother]

well grade A for your tolerance; i would get out of bkk; in the country we have none of these problems and little problems of any sort

[natway09]

Moving will solve nothing.

These wonderful Thais & their sensitive ways of living all change the moment they get behind the wheel of a car.

It is like the car key changes their whole personality as well as the car.

They become monsters even those that 2 hours ago have been walking with traffic.

I despair that you will  never change them

It is one of the downsides of being an expat Live with it or bail out

[samsensam]

 

with those expectations you're living in the wrong country i'm afraid. that's just how it is and it's unlikely to change.

[Mister Fixit]

23 hours ago, bazza73 said:

Why is life so hard for some people? Move to a location which is not undergoing construction, rent and relax.

If you are an owner, I guess you'll just have to suck it up, Princess. Goes with the territory.

 

 

Ever thought he might not want to move just because you say so?

[Mister Fixit]

16 hours ago, berybert said:

Tell that to a teenager who's old man has died of old age.

 

You don't give up, do you?  Must be ingrained too deep.

[Stargeezr]

Good rant Rooster, as for the suggestion of a protest, you will need to take a crowd of local Thais with you to city

hall and have one of them present the protest petition to the authorities, as expats have no say in local or any kind

of things in Thailand. Heck even the Thai people do not get listened to. Not unless they have some clout or relationship to

a high positioned politician.

Geezer

[berybert]

11 hours ago, Mister Fixit said:

 

You don't give up, do you?  Must be ingrained too deep.

Yep. Not really into banging out kids who you have no chance of seeing grow up.

Whats the point.  To prove you can.

[fruitman]

15 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

How many Thais do you se pushing a baby buggy? None would be a realistic response ( not counting Thai women married to farangs ).

See them all days but mostly not between 10-16:00 cause it's too hot.

 

Guess what? See loads of dogs too, not soidogs.

 

Also cyclists, every day loads of them.

 

Soccerplayers as well and swimmers, kids in the playground or on the fitnessequipment in the park.

 

Yes that's life in a moobaan.

 

 

[Mister Fixit]

18 hours ago, berybert said:

Yep. Not really into banging out kids who you have no chance of seeing grow up.

Whats the point.  To prove you can.

 

That barely comprehensible post says far more about your personality and your education level than anything else.  

[berybert]

44 minutes ago, Mister Fixit said:

 

That barely comprehensible post says far more about your personality and your education level than anything else.  

In fact it probably says more about you than it does me.

 

[Mister Fixit]

16 hours ago, berybert said:

In fact it probably says more about you than it does me.

 

 

Well, at least it shows that even though I'm well educated, it's impossible to understand your post