[sustran] Fwd: GETTING THERE

S. Husnaini nainisofjan at pd.jaring.my
Wed Aug 9 23:48:04 JST 2000


www.malaysiakini.com
Aug 9, 2000 


GETTING THERE
A. Rahman Paul Barter 

Is there a plot to eliminate pedestrians?


Is there a macabre conspiracy bent on preventing Malaysians from walking
anywhere? Would this shadowy group stoop to killing off the few brave
pedestrians who fail to take their hints? 

Does this cabal of evil plotters consider walking to be un-Malaysian? There
is disturbing evidence in our streets. Of course, official policy is
actually to encourage walking. The anti-walking conspiracy must be a very
devious one. 

Picture if you will a brainstorming session of Central Branch of the secret
"Prevention of Walking Society (POWS)"


"Hey what if we could persuade pedestrians to risk their skins and walk on
the roadway instead of on the footpath? No problem! Just make the footpaths
difficult to walk on. How about some land mines? 
No stupid. That's much too obvious, lah! Ooh I have an idea! Make the
footpaths about a foot higher than the street so that every time there is a
driveway or corner those pesky pedestrians will have to step down and up. 

Ha ha, good one! And put lots of obstacles in their way. How about a few
phone booths, big poles, bits of wire sticking out of the ground, hawker
stalls, and stuff. Hey look at that taxi rank there.. we should put a big
metal fence around it so pedestrians have to squeeze between it and that
open drain! Looks like we already stole the drain covers, good work team!
Hee hee we're really getting somewhere now, there is no way anyone in a
wheelchair could get through there!" 

Visualise the impatient chair ticking off the members as they examine their
detailed street maps


"You idiots, look at that intersection. Why is there still a pedestrian
phase on those traffic lights? Build a pedestrian bridge lah! You know, a
jejantas. Why should a few useless pedestrians stop the traffic? 
What's that you say at the back? They keep crossing on the ground even when
there is a jejantas? 

Hah! Then padan muka when they get hit by a lorry! And a few police "saman"
will send them the right message - what are they doing walking anyway?
Would pedestrians still get across this street too easily? Hmm.. how about
a nice big fence in the median strip? A good hurdle to make things more
interesting as they dash across.

Come to think of it. Don't even build the jejantas. Just remove the lights,
build the fence, turn the street into a highway and then only promise to
build the pedestrian bridge in a few years time
he he."

Someone else calls out that vehicles travelling at 30 km/h or less have
less than a 5% chance of killing a pedestrian even if they hit one. So a
special note goes on the whiteboard "make sure motor vehicles always go as
fast as possible" and "Persuade police to enforce speed limits only on big
highways where there are no pedestrians." 

The conspirators also decide that the young should never even get into the
habit of walking anywhere. Traffic around schools must be made as chaotic
and dangerous as possible so that parents fear to let their children walk
to school.

As the session continues the whiteboard fills with more and more ideas on
how to discourage or slaughter all those annoying pedestrians. One
conspirator points out that it would be too obvious if they eliminated all
pedestrian lights and pedestrian phases in traffic lights. Better to put in
some pedestrian lights but make sure they usually don't work. And how about
pedestrian lights that turn on and off at random even when no-one presses
the button, so motorists and walkers both start ignoring them completely. 

One plotter even suggests a few token pedestrian zones in the city but then
adds the sly twist that there must be no shade trees in the pedestrian
areas, just little palm trees designed especially to give NO shade at all.
Nothing like a blast of tropical midday sun to empty the pavement of
pattering feet.

OK, let's get back to reality now... OF COURSE THERE IS NO CONSPIRACY to
inflict genocide on people who use their feet or wheelchairs to move
around. What a ridiculous idea. For a start, we are all pedestrians
sometimes. Most trips involve at least some walking even if only to lurch
from the parking lot to the office or house. A plot against pedestrians
would be a plot against all of us.

In fact, I should point out that there are SOME excellent efforts being
made here and there in Kuala Lumpur and other municipalities around the
country to make things a little easier and safer for pedestrians. These
worthy efforts do offer some hope that Malaysia's pedestrians can soon be
taken off the endangered species list. The fanciful conspiracy theory above
is obviously way over the top! 

But then again, how do YOU explain all those obstacle-riddled footpaths,
pedestrian bridges, faulty pedestrian lights and all those little non-shady
palm trees?


------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Rahman Paul Barter is a researcher and writer on urban transport in
Asia. He has lived in Kuala Lumpur since 1994. GETTING THERE is a regular
column about transport issues in Malaysia. 



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