A Misleading Pavement

I went to Fort Cornwallis on 13 Oct. 2015. On the way I had to move my wheelchair on a pavement (see map). I was happy to see a kerb ramp at the start of the pavement. But when I reached the other end, I could not find any kerb ramp to get down. This is bad practice. If there is a kerb ramp at one end of a pavement, there MUST be a corresponding kerb ramp at the other end. Or else a wheelchair user could get stranded at the end that does not have kerb ramp.

There are some photos I took of the pavement. It was not properly maintained. Since it is at an area where there are many tourists and visitors, surely the local authority should pay more attention to it.

A Steep Ramp At A Walkway

I took the above photo at the junction of Jalan S P Chelliah and Jalan Gurdwara yesterday (3 Aug. 2014). The ramp at the end of walkway is very steep. I could not understand why MPPP makes such a fundamental mistake. For an outdoor walkway like this, the gradient of the ramp should be 1 in 16. This ramp is very steep and thus can post danger for wheelchair users. (See the illustration below.) I urge the Penang government to hold regular training sessions for people at all levels to educate them about disabled access.

Preventing Motorcyclists From Using Pedestrian Walkway: A Suggestion

The above photos were taken on July 23, 2014 at Jalan Masjid Negeri. The location was the pedestrian walkway in front of Penang Free School. It was newly built and friendly to both pedestrians and wheelchair users. Unfortunately some motorcyclists have started to ride on this walkway. They must be stopped.

One possible way of stopping these people is to build wheelchair gate on the walkway. The photos below illustrate my suggestion. The first photo is the current walkway. The photo below that is a concept photo (drawn with a computer software) showing how a wheelchair gate can be build to deter the motorcyclists from using the walkway. Please note the blue arrows. The logic is to create twist and turn in a narrow passage. The passage should be wide enough for wheelchairs but not motorcycles. More about wheelchair gate can be found in the link HERE.

A Bad Walkway For Wheelchair

On 20 June 2013, I was checking the disabled access around Dewan Sri Pinang when I first saw this walkway. It had initially appeared  wheelchair friendly to me. I found the kerb ramp to be gentle and wide. (See Photo 1).  So I decided to check it out.

As I moved along the ramp, I quickly discovered that it was not as good as it had appeared to be

Firstly, I didn't like the drain cover. It could trap the small front wheel of a wheelchair. (See Photo 2).

Along the walkway, I found some trees (I like trees), that were wrongly positioned, thus making the walkway too narrow for my wheelchair. (See Photo 3).

At the end of this walkway, I could not find any kerb ramp to go down. Some wheelchair users may have to go all the way back to the start of the walkway and move on the street to avoid the hazard of going down at position 5. A walkway like this is no good to us at all. (See Photo 5 and Photo 5a which shows the side view of the kerb).

This walkway shows that wheelchair access is still lacking in Penang. (The map below indicates the locations of the photos taken. The numbers on the map correspond with the number of the photos) .

The Walkway at Jalan Ria, Penang

The pedestrian walkway at Jalan Ria is not accessible to wheelchair users. I discovered that two days ago. My good friend, Li Fang, was trying to move from KOMTAR Walk to KOMTAR bus station but was stopped at walkway by a row of bollards.

She had no choice but to try the road. But again she was stopped by another row of bollards.

Luckily some kind-hearted people were around and they helped her unscrew one of the bollards.

So Li Fang had to use the road, exposing herself to the dangerous fast moving traffic, while other non-disabled people walked safely on the walkway. 

The rights of the disabled people are still not being respected in Penang.