We are endangering pedestrians

A careful observation will reveal that pedestrians are daily interacting with vehicles in a manner that puts the lives of pedestrians in constant peril.

The pavements meant for pedestrians, are simply not available along some streets and at places where they are available, especially in the central business district of Accra, hawkers and traders have taken over.

The pedestrians going about their business have no option but to step onto the streets and walk along bringing them into close contact with vehi­cles. Any careless driving can result in injury or fatality.

We need to start valuing human lives because nobody knew about some 70 some­thing years ago that one day a boy called Nana Akufo-Addo will become president of Gha­na and if he had been knocked down by a vehicle, see how many children will have been deprived of Free SHS.

Since I am a constituent of Ga South, I will draw atten­tion to that area. Driving along the Atta-Mills Link from old barrier towards Aplaku and beyond, there are no pavements and so pedestrians are compelled to walk along the edges of the street.

There is a reason why we make pavements and a reason why we make roads. Pave­ments are made to ensure pedestrians do not mingle with vehicles so their safety can be ensured.

It is never intentioned by any city planner that people and vehicles should interact in such close proximity as to endanger lives if a situation is created such that pavements are deliberately prevented to be created due to spaces not being made available by property owners along the streets and roads, then we are endangering the lives of pedestrians.

Another important thing that endangers the lives of pedestrians, is the neglect of road markings, particu­larly zebra crossings. Zebra crossing markings have faded out on a lot of streets or roads which makes a simple exercise of road crossing a hazardous venture.

At such places where the zebra crossings are faded, drivers who are not regular users of that stretch just move at their normal speed ignoring pedestrians who attempt to cross the street or road knowing it is a designat­ed pedestrian crossing point.

Another issue worth men­tioning is the number of traffic lights that are not functioning in the city.

Traffic lights are supposed to regulate the flow of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic so as to guarantee the safety of all road users.

Therefore when they begin to malfunction, it puts the lives of drivers, passengers and pedestrian at risk. Mal­functioning street lights; that is another topic for another day.

Education of road users is one of the surest ways of minimising if not eliminating completely the threat posed to pedestrians.

The rule is that, when a pedestrian steps on the zebra crossing, approaching vehicle has to stop for the person or persons to cross. However, that is not what the reality is.

Drivers on most occasions, would not observe this rule and drives through the cross­ing without stopping for the pedestrians to cross as re­quired by law.

Knowing how some people obtained their licenses in times past, it can be fairly as­sumed that, some drivers are simply ignorant of the driving regulations.

A serious effort at educat­ing the driving public, will go a long way to reduce road fatalities due to pedestrian knock-downs.

Those drivers who have gone through a driving school are easy to spot out of the lot, by their approach to driv­ing at pedestrian crossings.

Those who also never went through any training are also easy to identify at pedestrian crossings.

By Laud Kissi-Mensah