Editor;
Re: Disabled, sports enthusiasts loom as next frontiers for Pattaya tourism market (PM Friday, 08 February 2013) – Finally, maybe something happens but I guess it will be some show-off building somewhere and the real problems left where they are today.
As a father with small kids in a baby stroller, I can only imagine the difficulties sitting in a wheelchair, trying to get around in Pattaya. There are hardly any pavements; if there are they are jerky, full of holes, poles, motorbikes, street sellers and stairs, stairs which make it real hard to roll around in the city.
I would be really scared if I was in a wheelchair and wanted to cross a street; no one stops at the pedestrian crossings. There are no buses and hardly any taxis where a disabled can get help with their wheelchair. The baht buses are impossible (extremely dangerous and have nothing to do in the city described in above article).
The Royal Thai Police could for a change start checking driving licenses for the inhabitants and force them to educate themselves on traffic rules so basic rules and considerations will be followed instead of “here I come, I will go first, I do not care about anybody else but me”. The actual racism must stop; farangs have same value as the inhabitants, not lower, not higher. But police stop farangs – who most often have a good education – so they can ticket them for not having international / Thai driving license.
The traffic situation in Pattaya will only be worse and worse if not any real and good education is introduced. In the west it takes months, sometimes years, for people to get their driving license. Here it is about attending to a lecture half a day and then take a drive on a safe course with no traffic. It is a joke.
I have been living in Pattaya for years now and I love the city but above are the things really annoying me.
Tom Beck
