Hot on the heels of Ho Chi Minh City’s efforts to clear walking space on the city sidewalks, Hanoi officials are installing fences along their city’s sidewalks as a means of protecting pedestrians from vehicles.
Vehicles climbing sidewalks and using them as time-saving alternatives to highly congested streets have been a part of Vietnam’s road culture for years. This problem is especially bad in Hanoi, where pedestrians have to be almost as vigilant and aware of traffic on the city sidewalks, which are not designed for vehicular traffic, as they are on the street.
Over the past year, fences have been built along designated downtown Hanoi streets like Ton Duc Thang, Nguyen Thai Hoc, Ngoc Hoi, Le Duan and Dai Co Viet. According to Dan Tri, these steps were taken to ensure traffic order and to protect pedestrians along sidewalks.
On December 6, during a Hanoi People’s Council Q&A session, delegate Nguyen Huy Duoc proposed extending the sidewalk-saving measure to more areas as a means of restoring order to the city’s walking spaces. Similar measures have been taken in Saigon this past year with varying degrees of success.
Nguyen Thai Hoc Street resident Nghiem Ngoc Tram told Thanh Nien that the new fences have prevented motorbikes and even cars from climbing over the sidewalks near Van Mieu Quoc Tu Giam, or The Temple of Literature.
Tram explained: “My family totally supports the plan. Thanks to the fences, we feel more secure when kids and old people use the sidewalks as we don’t need to worry that motorbikes and cars will hit them.”
While experts do agree that these new measures are necessary and will be helpful in ensuring safety, many are concerned that the fences will produce new kinds of obstacles for pedestrians.
Dinh Quoc Thai, an expert on urban traffic, pointed out that the installation of these fences would harm businesses on busy trading streets, jeopardizing some people’s livelihoods.
Thai proposed that the fences be telegated to heavily trafficked pedestrian areas near Hanoi’s cultural spaces, adding that local authorities should ensure that barricades would not obstruct wheelchairs and baby strollers.
[Photo via Zing]
