“Dangerous uncle” manoeuvring himself in wheelchair down a road sparks debate among Singaporeans

SINGAPORE — An online user took to Facebook on Saturday (Jan 28) to share a video of an elderly uncle seen rolling his wheelchair on a road instead of on a sidewalk. The short caption read, “Dangerous uncle”.

Though concerned Singaporeans took to the comments section of the post, some merely called out the uncle’s actions as dangerous, while others cited the issues with some pavements in Singapore not being very compatible with people in wheelchairs.

“Simply, they are not supposed to wheel on the road with a wheelchair, ” said one netizen. There (is) nothing on the pavement to be blocked. LTA/Town council they always take care of making way if there is any obstruction.”

Another wrote, “Because that is Chinatown and most of the roads (in) that area are not accessible to wheelchairs or even accessible, it is dangerous. I skidded before on those steep pavements. Plus usually there are dustbins blocking especially that particular route too.”

Still, one user said, “Okay…okay…it’s wrong totally wrong…however, some pavements do not have a ramp to get on…some pavements are blocked by gargage bins and trees …so before you guys bombard him, what would you guys do if u (couldn’t) get on the pavement? And if halfway, the pavement is blocked?”