Only intensive public education can help use of footbridges
It is now a news report that the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bantama, Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, has called for urgent measures to enhance the use of pedestrian footbridge and reduce road accidents, citing studies that indicate that over 40 per cent of road accidents in Ghana involve pedestrian fatalities.
The MP, a former Minister for Roads and Highways in the erstwhile Akufo-Akufo government and professional planner, is reported to have stressed the need for improved footbridge design, public education, and stricter enforcement of safety regulations to curb avoidable deaths.
He expressed wonder as to why many pedestrians continued to ignore footbridges, often crossing roads at unsafe locations, resulting in avoidable accidents and fatalities.
This question is what should have engaged the attention of successive governments, so that such a question should become needless at this time.
If the state only thinks of the importance of footbridges without addressing the sociological and the cultural issues underpinning their use, the country would endlessly brood over the non-use of these safety facilities.
Since specific cultures influence different behaviours and habits, it follows that we cannot conclude, for instance, that once American citizens would use footbridges no matter where they are located away from where they stand, Ghanaians would follow suit.
Attitudes, habits and perspectives count in this matter.
Is the Ghanaian public educated enough to accept the safety provided by the footbridges and provided the motivation related to their use by people of different ages?
Are pedestrians in the country made aware they are among the most vulnerable road users all over the world and so need the footbridges?
Imagine that even where there are police personnel and wire mesh fences to force the use of the footbridges, some pedestrians still avoid them.
A study into such behaviours on the Madina-Adenta highway found out that some pedestrians claim inconvenience as a major reason for the non-use of the footbridges.
The inconvenience relates to the presence of street hawkers and beggars, who cover much space, obstruct free movements, and, through their routine activities, leave their mess around, thereby rendering the footbridges unattractive to use.
Another reason is that footbridges are located at certain distances, and too long and windy, so it takes too long a time to access them and cross from one side of the road to the other.
Some pedestrians say they fear heights and are not conversant and comfortable with walking on such footbridges, so they prefer to cross the roads where they find convenient.
Others also claim that locations of bus stops are further away from the footbridges, so when they disembark from buses or want to board them, it takes them too long a walk to do so.
Some also mention insecurity regarding frequent robberies in which thieves snatch bags and cell phones on the footbridges, especially at night, when there are no lights, and that the display of billboards and advertisement banners on the footbridges obscures them and increases the insecurity.
In the face of these, the suggestions Mr Asenso-Boakye provides to ensure pedestrian safety in the use of footbridges are good, yet cannot take effect in the shortest time possible.
What is needed now is attitudinal change through education, and tackling especially the problems of insecurity and inconvenience, particularly the negative behaviours of beggars and traders.
When these are done, then pedestrians can be warned that after a certain deadline, the erring ones shall be prosecuted, for instance.