The essences of pedestrian bridges are to allow pedestrians
to easily find access to cross the ever-busy highways and roads without having
to dash across the road at the risk of being knocked down by speeding vehicles.
It is built mainly to prevent accidents on the road and instil traffic sanity
in all road users to include drivers and pedestrians.
Places where there seem to be no bridges and is usually busy
in term of traffic control, the road safety commission will ensure there is a
Zebra crossing signs on every 20 meters to allow easy passage for the
pedestrians.
The importance of pedestrian Bridges cannot be
over-emphasized in-terms of safety. Mr Segun Oyelade, an advocacy staff of the
Lagos state safety commission said the Lagos state Emergency Agency (LASEMA) in
2013 recorded over 202 accidents by hit and run drivers as 90 of this account
occur about 5 meters from the pedestrian bridges.
He believes that the victims were not ignorant of the
essence of the bridges but feels there is no visible enforcement body that will
punish them for crossing the express road even when the pedestrian bridge is
available.
The experience of Mr Femi Adebanji, a marketing officer in a
paint manufacturing company in Oshodi is one lesson that will remain vivid in
his memory for a long time to come.
“I left Iyana- Ipaja for Ikeja in a commercial vehicle. The
traffic was so heavy that I’d wish there was another means for me to get to
Ikeja as have booked an appointment with a prospective client. I finally
alighted hastily before the bus could get to the approved bus stop and was
forced out of urgency, to dash across the road, about two meters away from the
bridge to save myself a few minutes. There was a lady who was also waiting for the
right time to cross as she was also in a hurry. We both crossed the road about
the same time when there seem to be a less tensed vehicle from afar. The lady missed
a step or two and was suddenly on the floor. Before I could look back and forth
for any form of assistance, there was a Hilux truck coming from behind. I
jumped on the trunk between the lanes as I helplessly watched the lady being
crushed by both the front and rare tyres of the truck. I stood there with my
mouth agape as my face was splashed with the blood that gushed out of the
lady’s head”. According to Femi, he fears he might carry the guilt in his heart
for the rest of his life. “A minute that seemed wasted might be the one that
has kept you alive”, he concluded.
The daily account of accident due to pedestrian crossing the
busy road has however become a course for concern in Lagos as record from Kick
Against Indiscipline (KAI) holds that there is always a case of accident at
every pedestrian bridge in Lagos. Even with the numbers of arrest that the
agency records every day, it does not deter the offenders to stop dashing
across the road the next time.
He said, “Anyone caught crossing the expressway will be sent
to our office at Alausa, Ikeja, after which the person would be taken to the
Ikeja High Court. The fellow, if found guilty, would be asked to pay a fine.
The guilty offender could be asked to engage in community service.”
On the number of persons caught crossing the expressway
daily, the KAI official said about 20 people break the law daily.
Our correspondent took a walk around the Ikeja Along express
road to collate survey from the bridge users and those who intentionally ignore
the bridge to sample both opinions
A hawker, Adebusola Odewale, 28, however tries to defend
herself on the ground that the cost of renting a place is too high for her to
afford and as such would resolve to take advantage to the traffic and market
her products to the commuters in the buses. According to her “I believe that
the drivers are only human and would find a way to pull brake when needed. No
man in his right senses will want to kill his fellow man”. She concluded that
any law that will restrict the hawkers from the highway would be intent to take
away their livelihood.
Mr Wale Johnson is also another anti-pedestrian crusader who
tries to defend his reason for crossing the road while there is a bridge close
by. He complained that the design of those bridges was done without putting the
aged and the physically challenged into consideration. According to him
“whenever I tried to use the bridge, I get a back ache and sometime might
urgently need a hand to hold or rest upon to recuperate my energy. You see when
you are making a policy, you should consider certain proviso and try to maintain
a balance by creating a win-win alternative that will also be enjoyed by the
physically challenged and the aged like me”.
One of the reason why some pedestrian finds it stressful to
cross the pedestrian bridge according to Aderopo Adekanmi,a final year student
of Lagos State University, Ojo, in his recent research, was the structure of
Nigerian pedestrian bridges. He conducted a practical sampling of 5 pedestrian
bridges in Lagos highways: The Alaba-Express bridge, all Oshodi Pedestrian
bridges, Ikeja overhead bridge, Isolo overhead bridge and the Palm grove
overhead bridge. He submitted that the ratio of those who dash across the
bridge and those who use the pedestrian bridge at time is 14:7 respectively.
He also posited from the outcome of his research that one of
the main reasons for traffic gridlock is the pedestrians that dash across the
busy high ways at interval. This was evidently stated by the Lagos State
Commissioner for Transportation, Kayode Opeifa, who said that pedestrians’
refusal to use overhead bridges was one of the reasons why there was gridlock
in the state.
A vital case that was raised was that of Mr Magnus Ikiose, a
Director of the Support for the Physically Challenged Initiative (SPCI). He
said that the structure of Nigerian bridges does not consider those with
disability such as those who are on wheelchair. “The pedestrian bridges have
steps and we don’t expect these special people to carry their wheel-chairs on
the head to cross the road”, he stated.
Lagos Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission,
Nseoboong Akpabio, said that the need to create well-structured bridges that
will allow for both physically endowed and physically challenged has become a
paramount project for the government as all hands are already on deck to kick
off the project. He however urged pedestrians to value their lives more.
He said, “We are trying our best to raise more awareness of
the dangers of not using pedestrian bridges. People should value their lives,
after all these are overhead bridges built by the government with people’s
money. Crossing expressways is dangerous,” he said, highlighting the efforts of
FRSC at educating Nigerians on the use of road facilities
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