[sustran] Re: fwd comments on Brazil pedestrian situation

[Ananthakrishnan]

Pedestrians are getting short shrift in India too. In Chennai, a city of 6
million inhabitants, the traffic engineers are doing the most puzzling of
things : getting rid of pavements to facilitate more road space for vehicle
users.
Media criticism seems to achieve nothing, as the wave of globalisation
bringing car borne mobility to the more affluent among Indians has made them
insensitive to the most basic of concerns.  They even tend to ignore the
fact that the moment they step out of their car, they become a pedestrian.
Their only worry : we need more space because there are more cars, so do
away with the pavements.
The most popular of the city's roads - Mount Road later renamed Anna Salai -
has no pavements at all, on several stretches, forcing people to compete
with vehicles.


G.Ananthakrishnan, Chennai-based journalist can be reached at Tel: + 91 44
8413942 , Fax: + 91 44 8415395.
----- Original Message -----
From: SUSTRAN Resource Centre <sustran at po.jaring.my>
To: <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
Sent: Monday, September 20, 1999 3:32 PM
Subject: [sustran] fwd comments on Brazil pedestrian situation


> fowarded from the pednet list:
>
>
> Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 11:11:37 -0300
> From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Jos=E9_Augusto_Rocha_Mendes?="
> <gmendes at internetcom.com.br>
> Subject: Re: pednet: Brazilian pedestrians
>
> This message sent to pednet by "Augusto_Rocha_Mendes"
> <gmendes at internetcom.com.br>.
>
>
> - -----Mensagem original-----
> De: Andrea <andrea at mail.gravitt.org>
> Para: Pednet <pednet at flora.ottawa.on.ca>
> Data: Quarta-feira, 8 de Setembro de 1999 11:12
> Assunto: pednet: Brazilian pedestrians
>
>
> >This message sent to pednet by "Andrea" <andrea at mail.gravitt.org>.
> >
> >The comments from the list member from Sao Paulo reminded me of something
I
> >was wondering about.
> >
> >Earlier this year, my company sent me to Brazil and many people warned me
> >that pedestrians never have the right of way and that I must yield to
cars
> >at all times unless there was a specific pedestrian signal.
> >
> >Even then, I had some problems, and I would guess it was not just my
> >perception -- there were teams of people with banners blocking cars so
peds
> >could cross a signalized intersection outside the weekend market. Also,
> >someone mentioned that there were a number of red light cameras in use.
> >
> >Is this sort of thing common? It didn't seem to have any real impact.
Even
> >my European co-workers ignored stop signs and traffic lights when
driving,
> >just like the locals. Walking across the street to get lunch was a daily
> >ordeal because there were no pedestrian signals at a complex
intersection.
>
>
> All that you said was true... Unfortunatelly...
> The right of way in Brazil is to the cars. At the sinalized pedestrian
> crosswalks, we observe a continuous disrespect of th red light. The
> instalation of cameras to punish the violators don't reach success because
> there is a new " legal industry" here... They're specialized on transit
> violations...
>
> The new Brazilian Transit Law, aproved on december, 1997 changes a lot of
> this situation, but in an article the law introduces a bill that is paid
by
> pedestrias who walk outside the crosswalks. "blame the pedestrians again"?
>
> We're trying to change this situation, but it took a long, long time.
> Sorry about the behaviour of our citizens Andrea, hope the next visit be
> better
>
> Jose Augusto Mendes
>
> ------------------------------
>
>