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my thoughts, my creations, and what not….

 perhaps i’m just to critical when it comes to things like this. perhaps, its because i was trained to be critical when it comes to things like these, i find this picture weird. i’m not even that meticulous when it comes to my work. but like we malaysians say :

“Kuman diseberang laut nampak, gajah di depan mata tidak pula”

 ”you notice a germ across the sea, but an elephant dead ahead of you, you don’t.”

 ok i must admit once more that my powers of translation is horrible. but i hope you get my point.

Anyway there i was at the top most level of my office building have my lovely nicotine fix (i shall not reveal where i work for the sake of self-preservation), when i glanced down and set my gaze upon the newly constructed office block right opposite. My head tilted to the right, then the left. and i finally decided that what i saw didn’t justify itself. Like i mentioned above, it could just be my overly-critical mind that made me come to these conclusions, for all i know, it’s acceptable and a norm to have it made that way.

so, what i’m actually ranting about is the placement of the handicapped parking lot. I shall try my very best to record the chain of thoughts that ran through my mind at that moment, i’ll do it in point form so it’ll be easily understood.

• POINT NUMBER ONE : the handicapped parking spot, is built (layed) on a gradient. and by gradient, i mean the lot is not level whereby one end is actually higher then the other end of the lot. So how would this help the user with things? would it make it more difficult for a handicapped person to get in and out of the vehicle? Perhaps the developer could argue that the sloping parking lot will assist the user in exiting the vehicle, as gravity would assist him pulling him out of the car. but i highly doubt it.
• POINT NUMBER TWO : there is a drain right beside the lot. i don’t know if they noticed this, but after so many years of living in malaysia, we have always been driving right hand drive vehicles. WHICH MEANS THE DRIVER IS SITTING ON THE RIGHT SIDE. with the drain in that location, this would hinder the driver to disembark and get on the pavement smoothly. okay, so they can cover the drain up… but what will they cover it up with? steel drain grating made from welded rebar? or prefabricated concrete slabs? i don’t think a wheel chair can move with ease on such surfaces.

Okay, thats just two points that my mind can come up with at the moment. and regarding point number two, perhaps the parking lot was intended to be reversed in to. which i really feel is the best way to park a car. but even if the parking lot was to be used in such a manor, i feel that ample space should be provided, as wheelchair widths should be taken in consideration.

perhaps one day, given a chance, i can dwell in studying about this subject. my heart cringes every time i see something like this. just a couple of weeks ago, i witness a lady pushing her wheel chair bound mother on the streets of kl, going against traffic, because the sidewalks just wasn’t very accessible.  handicapped commuters are not a new occurrence to this country, and even though many voices has tried to be heard, there are things that have yet to be changed.

i’ll sign off here, with my heart going out to those whom has to face such situations everyday.

good night.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 am and is filed under nuts and bolts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.