Of late it seems everyone in town is complaining about traffic jams. Only yesterday my neighbor complained that it took her three hours to go and buy shoes at the Worowat Market and return home to Nimmanhaemin Soi 1. The red taxis are trying to keep out of the traffic snarls and make some money taking tourists out of town and who can blame them?
But now the Traffic Police, bless their souls, have come upon a solution , in small print below:
No parking 12 noon to 10 pm on the nigh eternally congested Nimmanhaemin Rd.
So now we have a defacto bicycle-pedestrian-motorbike lane and no delays and no congestion …
Except for the four and more wheeled polluting fossil fuel guzzlers.
Thanks Coppers.
.. update
Warning: The Western side lane needs immediate resurfacing to make it bicycle and pedestrian safe.
When patrolled and the no parking law is enforced by the traffic police the new arrangements work well.
However by 3rd January policing had become sporadic and illegal parking common. What are the police doing ?
Get on your bike? What a stupid idea. Anyone who rides a bicycle in Chiang Mai is risking his life and health.
At street level – directly inhaling vehicle exhaust – you are exposing yourself to the most dangerous air pollution.
Why not just move to Beijing and kill yourself even faster? Add to this the fact that drivers here show no consideration
for bicyclists or pedestrians, and you have a recipe for disaster. I spent my teen years riding around Manhattan on a
bicycle. The risks I would face here doing the same thing are far worse. Teenagers are oblivious to risk and do stupid
things; adult should know better.
Roger Lee who appears not to be a cyclist appears ignorant of some relevant facts. Firstly sitting in a car or songtaew in heavy traffic one inhales far more toxic gas than does a cyclist. The cyclist on a machine which through the miracle of the lever principle uses very little energy and thus breathes little as she passes by waiting traffic. Walking along the street is more dangerous but perhaps less so than sitting in a car surrounded by CO and other toxic gasses. Attending a school of kindergaten or serving in a shop or drinking at a kerbside bar as is popular in Nimmanhaemin Rd poses even greater danger to health. As for driver behavior, Thailand is not the USA or Australia. Folk are generally more relaxed about the law and few take the view that “it is my right to go fast because I am on the main road”. I personally much prefer to cycle in Chiang Mai than my native Melbourne.
Brilliant response Ricky. What a silly person to make those comments about cycling in Chiang Mai! I have lived and cycled here for 6 years. I’m also a cycing coach at the velodrome, 700-year stadium. I have cycled all my life. I covered 16,000 miles locally last year. Healthy? Dr Morgan told me I had the physiology of a 35-year old. I’m 66. Come on Roger. Get on yer bike. And if you haven’t got one, I ‘ll lend you a track bike and challenge you to 100 laps of the velodrome (no traffic). Looking forward to that ride!
(100 laps is only 20 miles, I am sure you can manage that,)
Thanks Ian. For the time being no exercise can be recommended due to the extreme pollution in ChiangMai other than a slow cycle down hill to Camp Kawila to join a ‘Die In’ at the gates of Army HQ.