Most of the road is now safe to
travel along - but then there are areas where it is not so safe.
Jetsada Homklin
After months of delays, the wheelchair path near the Redemptorist Vocational
School for Persons with Disabilities is nearly done, but students can’t use it
because neighbors continue to park their cars on the raised route.
City hall officials say the paved wheelchair path running down to Big C Extra
along Soi Paniad Chang now is 90 percent complete. Most of the route, which sits
four centimeters above the road surface, has been paved with decorative bricks
laid near the entrances of the Redemptorist and Tantarak schools.
Redemptorist electronics teacher Jetsada Khunpol said staff and students were
pleased to see Pattaya create the path for students, but were very dismayed at
the lack of courtesy shown by neighbors on Soi Paniad Chang.
Redemptorist electronics teacher
Jetsada Khunpol said staff and students were pleased to see Pattaya create the
path for students, but were very dismayed at the lack of courtesy shown by
neighbors on Soi Paniad Chang.
Despite the fact the route is raised above the roadway to
show that it is a dedicated path for wheelchair users, residents continue to
park their cars on it and local businesses have piled items on the path,
blocking access for the intended users.
School officials want city hall to paint the path with wheelchair symbols and
place signs along the route to better educate local residents. They also want
police to better police the route to ticket cars parking illegally on the path.
Engineers recently painted a
wheelchair access sign along the route.
Ironically, such problems were expected during the early
stages of planning for the wheelchair path. Original plans called for the path
to be separated from traffic by a barrier. City hall cut costs, however, by
choosing to demark the route with merely by a painted line.
To address the matter, the school this week provided Pattaya Mail with the
following:
Safer travel for the disabled
Derek Franklin
For the students attending the Vocational School for People with
Disabilities, which is located on Soi Paniad Chang, also known as Soi Yume,
traveling along the highways and byways of Pattaya has never been an easy task.
It is not just the students who have difficulty, but also local residents who
are living with a disability and the elderly who use support frames to mobilize.
Not everyone has taken notice of
the new road rules.
A build up of heavy traffic over recent years along the soi
has resulted in an increase in accidents between cars or motorbikes and
wheelchairs, including one recent fatality.
Thanks to a multi-million baht initiative by City Hall, life is now safer for
the students.
A designated lane for the disabled has been laid, complete with blue signs
informing the public what the new lane is to be used for. Raised areas have been
built across the road in several places, in an attempt to prevent speeding, keep
the traffic at a safe speed and also provide a protected place for wheelchair
users to cross.
School officials want city hall to
paint the path with wheelchair symbols and place signs along the route to better
educate local residents. They also want police to better police the route to
ticket cars and motorcycles parking illegally on the path.
Unfortunately, no matter how many brightly painted signs are
laid on the new black lane, there are those who completely ignore the new rules
of the road. Cars, delivery vans, motorbikes and food carts continue to be
parked on the new lane, and in the way of those who need to use it and putting
them at risk of harm.
Cars were found parking in the
wheelchair path just a short distance from the foundation.
Driving in the wheelchair lane is
also illegal.
Several raised areas will slow the
traffic along Soi Yume.
The new lane offers safety to the
students with disabilities.
Teachers and students from
Redemptorist School thanking Pattaya City.
