Editorial: Pedestrians Must Be Compelled To Use Newly Constructed Footbridges

The Accra-Kasoa Highway, which is a part of the ECOWAS Express Highways, is one of the busiest roads in Accra, where motorists move at a top speed, myjoyonline.com has reported.

That crossing, the website continued, previously had an installation of a traffic light with regular police presence to prevent pedestrians from being knocked by speeding vehicles.

However, the installation of the traffic light slowed down the free flow of traffic. The situation, the story continued, compelled the authorities to pull down the traffic light and instead construct an overhead footbridge.

Before the construction of the footbridge at Tetegu, pedestrians struggled to cross the road due to the speeding vehicles. It was thus expected that they would easily opt for the footbridge after its construction.

Although some pedestrians were using it at the time Myjoyonline visited the scene, others carelessly crossed the road in their numbers with varied excuses.Some drivers who spoke to Myjoyonline expressed surprise at the decision of some pedestrians to cross the road, despite the availability of the footbridge. They condemned those pedestrians, insisting that no excuse was tenable.

Irresponsible crossing of roads is one of the major problems confronting government officials in Accra and, as a matter of fact, some of the towns and cities. Pedestrians sometimes disregard zebra crossings and traffic lights and cross the roads the way they want. This has resulted in several avoidable deaths but we, as a country, seem not to have learnt any useful lessons.

Following the rampant knock down of pedestrians on the Madina-Adenta express way, the government raised funds to complete all the foot bridges that had been abandoned due to lack of funds. But today, despite the existence of these footbridges, people who do not apparently value their lives still cross the ten-lane road without using the footbridges.

Meanwhile, before the completion of these footbridges, communities along the corridor kept on complaining that crossing the road was a major problem and that the government should do something about it. At the Madina-Zongo Junction, all the efforts made by the then Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, to ensure safety of pedestrians have been rendered useless.

The community members have succeeded in destroying all the erected steel pillars fastened with barbed wires. As a result of this unfortunate development, majority of traders and community members prefer walking across the road, instead of using the footbridges. Since the street lights on the Legon-Madina road are not working, it is always dangerous to drive in the area, especially during the night.

Even a major intersection like the Adenta Barrier, where speeding vehicles had knocked down and killed several pedestrians in the past, the footbridge constructed at the main gate of the West Africa Senior High School has become a white elephant. To some of these pedestrians, the footbridge is too long for them and that walking across the road is faster.

Meanwhile, when a pedestrian is knocked down and killed after attempting to cross the road with careless abandon, it is in most of the cases, the drivers who are blamed.

To ensure the safety of pedestrians, The Chronicle suggests to the government or the various district municipal and metropolitan assemblies to instruct the police to arrest anyone caught crossing the road, instead of using the footbridges that have been provided. We believe that if this is regularly enforced, all pedestrians will be compelled to use the footbridges.

A claim by one of the pedestrians interviewed by myjoyonline.com at Tetegu, that she was experiencing pains in her leg – the reason why she could not use the footbridge -can never be true.

She was simply lazy and, therefore, decided to walk across the road instead of using the footbridge. This is the reason why we are suggesting to the various assemblies to put mechanisms in place to compel all pedestrians to use the footbridges.

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