As I take my early evening walks with Henri I take note of certain menaces to the sidewalk - some I am familiar with, some are new. I haven't had a car in years so I would say I'm a seasoned pedestrian. It's quite an achievement, I know. In addition, I've seen some innovations I think would be a good idea to have back home.
One thing that is shared by both the States and Taiwan - walking while texting. This is likely a worldwide Dilemma. I guess this is to be expected but for some reason I find it noteworthy as today I nearly took out a lady who stepped out in front of my stroller, head down, texting.
On the top of my list of menaces to the sidewalk are the insane number of motor scooters. I have to say I'm not a fan. As cars are waiting at a stop light, the scooters will squeeze between cars until they are at the front of the line where they gather in a fume emitting gaggle. When the light turns green the 5-50 (depends on the time of day) scooters buzz annoyingly by, like a swarm of bees, cutting in front of and behind poor pedestrians like myself. They don't stop there. They cruise down sidewalks (to be fair there are some areas where that is where they park) and seem to come out of nowhere when you least expect it. You see all kinds on the scooters - they aren't limited to one age group or gender or economic class. You see families piled on and once I saw a lady holding her Golden Lab while driving down the road.
Scooters are not the only menace to the sidewalk. There is also an epidemic of little old ladies on bicycles that are not afraid to run you down. They seem so innocent on their traditional bikes with the basket on the front until they whizz right by you unapologetically at 50 mph.
Moving on...
I think we should adopt the pedestrian signals they have here. Instead of a little white walking figure, here they have a green walking figure that is actually walking. So when the accompanying count down clock is up at let's say 35, the animation is walking leisurely. Then when it's down to like 9, the little dude speeds up. Cool...
At construction zones they have a little guy that is directing traffic- only the little guy is a friggin' robot. Okay a crude robot. More like a motorized mannequin but still, it certainly grabs your attention and probably cuts down on costs and injuries! Win, win!
Okay one thing of note that is neither a menace nor an innovation are the ladies who walk around with umbrellas when it isn't raining. I believe it is to shield themselves from the sun but I'm sure it's handy to always have an umbrella on you since it does rain here a lot - and I mean, who wants to go through the trouble of opening it
And those are my notes from the sidewalk.
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