Care and Share
I read with trepidation last Friday in the Today Paper that they were going to pilot some scheme where cyclists and pedestrians will be ’sharing’ the walkways.
Sharing? That’s not a word that cyclists actually know, you know.
I’ve talked about it before. I had to put up with cyclists who do not give way. Who expect the right of way at all times on the walkway. They even expect my wife, my baby (in a pram) and I to move aside (even if there’s really no more space left on the walkway). They really expect us to move onto the grassy areas while they whizz past.
Sharing space sounds like a wonderful idea. Except for one slight problem. The walkways are usually very narrow. There’s usually enough space for two people to walk side by side. So usually, there is space for one pedestrian to go from A - B and another pedestrian to go from B - A. Now this is already a perfect unspoken rule for us pedestrians. However, some people choose to break this rule. Someone who is walking from B - A would purposely walk in A - B’s path. The reason being that there is a metal grating on B - A’s path. These people truly believe that the metal gratings would give way under them if they were to step onto them. So nevermind…as long as we’re ok…other people die…nevermind.
So…in view of that already present problem of space…I don’t really know how we’d have to give way to cyclists too.
Now…there’s some areas that actually create special paths for cyclists. These paths are separate from the pedestrian walkways. The ones at East Coast Park, Pasir Ris beach and Bukit Batok areas come to mind. Why can’t they just implement this system islandwide?
They say that they’d have cycling wardens for the pilot in Tampines. How that would actually change things….I have absolutely no idea. There is no space. No space! Having wardens would actually crowd the area at the walkways even further.
I know Tampines. I studied there for 13 years. I know how crowded Tampines can be. The people who come up with these ideas obviously have their heads in the clouds. They do not live there. They hear a problem and just come up with the solution. But they are not the ones who have to implement the solutions. They are not the ones who have to experience the solutions at first hand on a day to day basis.
The divide is becoming greater. The rich people are becoming more and more disengaged from the masses.
Just the other day…Suzanne Jung was telling us on National TV that she just learnt something new. She proudly chirped that She just realised that the last three numbers in the postal code actually identified the block number of HDB blocks! Now that’s something you won’t learn everyday. You’ve got to be in a competition (like her) to learn that fact. You definitely won’t be learning THAT if you happen to be working in Singapore for the past few years.
Thinking about the fact that Singapore is entirely enveloped with HDB flats, I am surprised that she doesn’t know that fact. You mean…all this while she only walk around District 10 and 11 huh?
I’m just saying this as another example of the rich influencing the whole of Singapore. They do not know the masses. How are they supposed to come up with the solutions when they can’t identify with the masses?
Its going to be a case of "Let them eat cake" here one day…