Even with the many pedestrian bridges in Abuja, residents prefer crossing the expressways on foot, AWAAL GATA writes
Crossing the expressway on foot, even where there is a pedestrian bridge, is a common occurrence in Abuja. During rush hours, many residents risk their lives crossing roads right beside pedestrian bridges instead of using the bridges.
In 2013 road accident statistics of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) topped road accident statistics in the country. The territory recorded 485 cases of road accidents last year with 13.86 deaths per 100, 000 of the population.
According to the statistics, some of the deaths occurred while residents ran across express roads in the city. In an effort to curb the preventable deaths, the Federal Government awarded contracts for the construction of six pedestrian bridges in strategic locations in Abuja in 2012.
The Abuja-Kubwa Expressway expansion project, for instance, has several pedestrian bridges at important inter-sections along the route. The story is the same for the Airport Road, designed and executed with many pedestrian bridges.
These bridges are to complement long existing ones like the Mogadishu Barracks Junction pedestrian bridge and the Nyanya pedestrian bridge along the Abuja-Karu-Nyanya-Keffi Expressway.
But the residents rarely use the bridges. They continue to cross the wide roads, ignoring the bridges and endangering their lives.
The online encyclopedia defines a foot or pedestrian bridge as “a bridge designed for pedestrians and in some cases cyclists, animal traffic and horse riders, rather than vehicular traffic.”
It explains that the bridge serves two important functions. To add to the overall infrastructural outlook of a city, and more importantly. “They are located across roads to let pedestrians cross safely without slowing down the traffic.”
Unfortunately, these rules do not apply to Abuja pedestrians. They will not use the bridges, but prefer to cross the roads, slow down speeding vehicles and risk their lives.
In a bid to enforce compliance, the authorities have resorted to erecting concrete and iron barriers on some roads to discourage pedestrians from crossing the roads.
There are barriers erected along the roads for as long as two kilometres in order to compel pedestrians to use the bridges.
A resident, Musa Danlami, 36, attributes the development to impatience on the part of some pedestrians. Danlami says many people are impatient and lazy a when they get to the road. According to him, “the issue is that many people are impatient. You know the way it is with us here. They get to the road and feel that, well, why waste my time climbing the bridge when I can just cross the road.
“It is the same attitude when some drivers get to a traffic light. They ignore the red light and drive through because they are impatient.
“There are those who are simply lazy. It is a serious problem, seeing that lives are lost sometimes.”
He advises residents to weigh the two options staring in their faces whenever they get to a road with pedestrian bridges.
“It is your choice; to cross and risk being knocked down by a vehicle or use the bridge and be safe”, Luka adds.
A police officer who pleaded for anonymity, blames the problem on “indiscipline and carefree behaviour” of most Nigerians.
He recalls that in 2011, residents who crossed the road by the bridge were given light punishment like “frog jump” and “press-ups.”
“These measures did not work because every day, you would find people still doing the same thing again.
“An idea came that barriers should be built on the road near the bridge; that is helping a lot now to discourage people from crossing the road”, he says.
However, there are residents who claim that the sitings of the bridges were improper. They argue that, the bridges are located far from the convergence points of pedestrians.
“The bridges are meant to be used by pedestrians at junctions or by bus-stops when they alight from vehicles.
“But, you see that some of the bridges are located very far away from the junctions. When people calculate the distance they have to walk to climb the bridge, the risk to cross the road instead becomes attractive”, Mrs. Bukky Ayuba, a trader, tells our correspondent.
Yet, there are residents, who blame the problem on either the absence of public enlightenment or poor efforts at doing this. They suggest that a way out is for the authorities and relevant agencies to enlighten people on the importance of using these bridges.
“Ignorance could be playing a role in the whole of this; so, when you begin to enlighten such people, they will come to appreciate why the bridges are there”, a public affairs analyst, Mr. Mike Ayodele, suggests.
A lawyer, Mr. Sunday Sardauna, shares Ayodele’s view. He, however, urges such agencies like the National Orientation Agency to take up the challenge.
“Let NOA take up the challenge; it is the type of job it is established to carry out.
“They can use the mass media, radio jingles, television campaign and all that to enlighten residents about the usefulness of these bridges”, he says.
