Paris - Almost Spring
There is a familiar sound on Parisian sidewalks. It is a steady revving noise of a low horse power engine. It is not as threatening as an Italian sports car or a four wheel drive vehicle, but still enough to kill you. It purrs with consistency. It is the sound of an engine stalking you as you as you make your way along the narrow pedestrian walkways. If you just arrive in this city, you light second guess the sound, only because normally in most countries; sidewalks are reserved for pedestrians and the thought of a motorbike speeding behind you would be fiction. It's not in your imagination. It's Paris. And though it is not a lawless Mad Max world where riders can run you over and not think twice, it is beginning to come close.
So anyway, back to the picture I'm conjuring. The rider is still there behind you. He is anonymous, and this time he's speeding past you. Better not suddenly change your trajectory or you will be roadkill. Stay on the straight line. Respect the machine. It's bigger than you. Even if behind that mask it is just a puny little teen on a Suzuki.
The sound becomes more present and more alarming as the rider revs his engine, seemingly unaware or depondent of all the bodies that surround him in this narrow corridor. Can he wait? Certainly not, he speeds ahead with total disregard for among other things: mothers with strollers, grandmothers with canes and that guy in the wheel chair looking for a place to roll in peace. Does he realize he is a mortal threat to public safety? Absolutely. Does he give a damn? Not a chance. Is he a doctor with a patient to save. Or is this an off duty policeman who has been called for back up or noble excuse like that. Maybe even he's got a wife in labor? Maybe he's an honest soul, late for a life changing event and seconds can mean a life in ruin or success?
No. More than likely: he's just an imatient asshole.
Paris sidewalks are not safe places for pedestrians, they are (and I do not consider this an exaggeration) often more dangerous than the streets that are supposed to contain these vehicles. Riders use them as short cuts to avoid traffic lights, run ways to superior parking places, or often just an alternative freeway to meet their speed needs. I once saw a little kid in the thirteenth district in Chinatown get his arm almost taken out while playing near his father. The father, much like I would have assumed, took it for granted that his child would be safe on the sidewalk. He was wrong. The rider sped off after the hit and run. I feel this is the city equivalent of sharks on land.
These riders are often masked in a balaclava, helmet or tipped baseball hat. Ashamed of who they are and what they have done but comfortable in their cowardly anonymity.
So what about the law for this kind of thing? I know that in many West African cultures or even in India this behaviour may be permitted, it may even be sanctioned as one of those "we'll deal with this issue as soon as we sort out all the rest of our problems" issue, but to me, Paris a so called civilized culture should be able to get it together. I want to know that I atleast have a chance of not being threatened on my own turf.
Pedestrians, claim your sidewalks! I expect to take my chances in the road or on the highway but I do not expect to bite the dust on the sidewalk. But perhaps this is just me. A little invesigation is perhaps in order. Is there anything on the books in this city? Is there a fine? If, so how much? What is the protocol? Is this sort of behaviour sanctioned by the goverment? Is there a speed limit? Is there a law? There must be a law about this? All Icould find on the internet was a "recommendation by the city of Paris" It goes like this:
« Enfin motards, ne roulez jamais sur les trottoirs sauf à très faible allure, et pour aller stationner à un endroit très proche et non gênant. Vous circulez déjà de façon tellement plus fluide que les voitures ! Quand il vous arrive d’avoir à patienter, faîtes-le de bon gré, et n’oubliez pas que le piéton, sur le trottoir, est encore plus prioritaire ! »
It turns out that this is a recommendation. It essentially says. "Motorists: Don't go too fast and try and find a place to park that is near to the sidewalk". Pathetic. As far as I'm concerned this is like saying: "Murderers, please kill your victims as painlessly as possible."
So what to do? Wear armor? Buy a scooter myself and joust? I guess I'll just have to have ears like radar and eyes in the back of my head. Because one of the most humiliating obituaries I can imagine has got to be " he was run over, while out walking.........on the sidewalk."
There is a familiar sound on Parisian sidewalks. It is a steady revving noise of a low horse power engine. It is not as threatening as an Italian sports car or a four wheel drive vehicle, but still enough to kill you. It purrs with consistency. It is the sound of an engine stalking you as you as you make your way along the narrow pedestrian walkways. If you just arrive in this city, you light second guess the sound, only because normally in most countries; sidewalks are reserved for pedestrians and the thought of a motorbike speeding behind you would be fiction. It's not in your imagination. It's Paris. And though it is not a lawless Mad Max world where riders can run you over and not think twice, it is beginning to come close.
So anyway, back to the picture I'm conjuring. The rider is still there behind you. He is anonymous, and this time he's speeding past you. Better not suddenly change your trajectory or you will be roadkill. Stay on the straight line. Respect the machine. It's bigger than you. Even if behind that mask it is just a puny little teen on a Suzuki.
The sound becomes more present and more alarming as the rider revs his engine, seemingly unaware or depondent of all the bodies that surround him in this narrow corridor. Can he wait? Certainly not, he speeds ahead with total disregard for among other things: mothers with strollers, grandmothers with canes and that guy in the wheel chair looking for a place to roll in peace. Does he realize he is a mortal threat to public safety? Absolutely. Does he give a damn? Not a chance. Is he a doctor with a patient to save. Or is this an off duty policeman who has been called for back up or noble excuse like that. Maybe even he's got a wife in labor? Maybe he's an honest soul, late for a life changing event and seconds can mean a life in ruin or success?
No. More than likely: he's just an imatient asshole.
Paris sidewalks are not safe places for pedestrians, they are (and I do not consider this an exaggeration) often more dangerous than the streets that are supposed to contain these vehicles. Riders use them as short cuts to avoid traffic lights, run ways to superior parking places, or often just an alternative freeway to meet their speed needs. I once saw a little kid in the thirteenth district in Chinatown get his arm almost taken out while playing near his father. The father, much like I would have assumed, took it for granted that his child would be safe on the sidewalk. He was wrong. The rider sped off after the hit and run. I feel this is the city equivalent of sharks on land.
These riders are often masked in a balaclava, helmet or tipped baseball hat. Ashamed of who they are and what they have done but comfortable in their cowardly anonymity.
So what about the law for this kind of thing? I know that in many West African cultures or even in India this behaviour may be permitted, it may even be sanctioned as one of those "we'll deal with this issue as soon as we sort out all the rest of our problems" issue, but to me, Paris a so called civilized culture should be able to get it together. I want to know that I atleast have a chance of not being threatened on my own turf.
Pedestrians, claim your sidewalks! I expect to take my chances in the road or on the highway but I do not expect to bite the dust on the sidewalk. But perhaps this is just me. A little invesigation is perhaps in order. Is there anything on the books in this city? Is there a fine? If, so how much? What is the protocol? Is this sort of behaviour sanctioned by the goverment? Is there a speed limit? Is there a law? There must be a law about this? All Icould find on the internet was a "recommendation by the city of Paris" It goes like this:
« Enfin motards, ne roulez jamais sur les trottoirs sauf à très faible allure, et pour aller stationner à un endroit très proche et non gênant. Vous circulez déjà de façon tellement plus fluide que les voitures ! Quand il vous arrive d’avoir à patienter, faîtes-le de bon gré, et n’oubliez pas que le piéton, sur le trottoir, est encore plus prioritaire ! »
It turns out that this is a recommendation. It essentially says. "Motorists: Don't go too fast and try and find a place to park that is near to the sidewalk". Pathetic. As far as I'm concerned this is like saying: "Murderers, please kill your victims as painlessly as possible."
So what to do? Wear armor? Buy a scooter myself and joust? I guess I'll just have to have ears like radar and eyes in the back of my head. Because one of the most humiliating obituaries I can imagine has got to be " he was run over, while out walking.........on the sidewalk."
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