Twilight walkers tread fine line with the law
Members of a walking group on Sujiatun Road walk silently along the pedestrian paths on both sides of the road on Tuesday night, throwing angry eyes to the police officers patrolling the road.
A peaceful downtown road with tall plane trees and street art has been taken over every evening by a large group of walkers taking exercise.
About a year ago, over 100 middle-aged and elderly people started to meet at Sujiatun Road in Yangpu District between 7pm and 8pm every evening to speed walk together along the bicycle, and sometimes even vehicle, lanes.
They form four separate groups and include both locals and some who come from farther afield. They all walk at the same pace and wear uniforms. The leaders carry loudspeakers to keep up their members’ spirits with rousing music.
One man’s meat is another man’s poison, and for every walker who sees the practice as healthy after-dinner exercise, there are plenty of drivers and other residents who see it as a huge annoyance. Many of the walkers claim to have cured hypertension and obesity through these crepuscular perambulations, but for many others it is just one big headache.
Yesterday, the police arrived to persuade the walkers to obey the rules and mute their loudspeakers, which did not please the hikers one bit.
They walked silently along the pedestrian paths on both sides of the road, glaring at the police officers and journalists there to report on the pedestrian peregrinations.
“I guess you have nothing to do at home so you’ve to come to disturb our exercise,” a woman shouted angrily at a reporter as she strode by.
“The walking has made me much healthier had helped me get rid of 5 kilograms,” she complained. “I’m afraid I’ll get fat and sick again if we can no longer walk here.”
Some men remonstrated fiercely with the police officers after being ordered to turn off their bullhorns. “It is boring to do the walking without music,” one grumbled.
A police officer said there was absolutely no problem so long as they stuck to the pedestrian footpaths. “They can walk anywhere they want, as long as they violate no traffic rules and make no noise,” the officer said.
The silent, angry exercise ended around 7:45pm yesterday, earlier than normal.
The evening parade started about a year ago, when residents living in the nearby Anshan Community, one of the city’s earliest worker’s communities built in the 1950s, began walking together, initially in quite small numbers, and it snowballed from there, according to Siping Road Subdistrict.
As the merry throng grew into something more akin to a crowd, they purchased uniforms and took over the cycle lanes. Someone had the bright of idea blasting out stirring music and that was when the trouble really started.
Senior member Wu said the group members mute the loud hailers voluntarily during the entrance examinations for high school and college.
“Our teams are very disciplined, so I don’t think it is right for the police to treat us like criminals,” Wu complained.
“We are not a mob. We just want a place to exercise in our twilight years,” she said.
However, one resident of the No. 4 Anshan Community was slightly less enthusiastic. She said the noise was unbearable and she could hardly hear her television between 7pm and 8pm every day. Her daughter has to do her homework in the sitting room and keep away from the window.
The hiking horde, a danger to themselves and other road users, are a substantial obstruction to traffic on the one-way street. The road is narrow and vehicles have to squeeze through if two teams walk side by side. Motorcycles, on the other hand, whiz perilously past.
When the walking groups make a U-turn at the end of the road, cars have to queue up and wait until the last walker has passed, according to one disgruntled resident.
“There are so many other places for them to take their exercise. Why do they stick to our road every night?” he complained to police yesterday.
Walker Wu was quick to give her reasons.
As one of the city’s 10 landscape roads, with plane trees on both sides, good air and a pleasant ambience, it is cooler to walk here in the shade, she said.
“We actually have no nearby alternatives for such a large group of people,” she said.
The district government has two plans — either to bus the walkers to a nearby park or simply pedestrianize the road.
The district greenery authority plans to extend the opening hours of Songhe Park, about 500 meters away, to 9pm and invite the walkers.
Until the decision is made, a law enforcement team of police, urban management and neighborhood committee officers will patrol the road every night along with volunteers to persuade the twilight walkers to obey the traffic rules and keep the noise down.
Some members of a walking group argue with the police officers on Sujiatun Road in Yangpu District after being ordered to turn off the loudspeakers on Tuesday night.
