Father in double trouble
The last few days have been marked by various events here in the capital Prague, all of them in some way connected with road transport and traffic, as the past week was designated European Week of Mobility. One of them was a race - with people trying to get to the city centre from various places by car, bike and public transport. On each occasion public transport and bikes proved faster than the car, although some drivers complain that the race fixed and the result was a foregone conclusion. In another event, mothers with prams and buggies raced against each other along sidewalks struggling to weave between parked cars.
Prague, especially its centre, is known for a desperate lack of parking places and an abundance of cars. I would like to share my personal experience as a father of 22 month-old twins. Their main way of travel for distances longer than a hundred metres still remains a buggy. You can't imagine my despair and anger when navigating a twin buggy along sidewalks, with cars parked diagonally, leaving a centimetre less than I need to pass. Pulling back all the way to the nearest zebra, I swear a vendetta on those brainless drivers. Shall I return at night and glue a piece of cardboard on the front window with an inscription "You are blocking the way, idiot"? Or scratch the bonnet with my key? Once my wife left a note under the wiper of a Mercedes that was taking up two thirds of the pavement. The owner of that monster probably did not tell the others but the car never appeared there again. Unfortunately there's always someone else to take the place of these sidewalk pirates.
Recently, our town hall had ramps from the sidewalk built into all road crossings to make life easier for the disabled, something which is a matter-of-course in many countries. However, it would not be a Czech solution if there were not a catch. The road crossings are not marked as such, with no zebra or lights or anything. Whereas parking a car on a zebra is an offence against the road code, parking a car on an unmarked crossing is quite legal. Whether you are in a wheel chair or a mother with a pram, you cannot cross the road. If you tell the police, they just shrug their shoulders: sorry, nothing we can do for you. The same response comes from the local town hall. Sounds too unbelievable for a country about to join the European Union?
More and more often I come to the conclusion that moving out of Prague would solve the problem. But I am haunted by a nightmarish vision that thousands of cars with their thoughtless drivers will follow, and that there really is no escape.
