Road puddles add to woes of pedestrians

Rawalpindi

Ill-behaved motorists on Tuesday intentionally drove through puddles at speed so they could splash pedestrians. Many admitted to having deliberately drenched a pedestrian, some said they had done it accidentally, but just a small percentage stopped to say sorry.

Why city fathers can’t do something about the standing water as some playful car drivers and bikers are misusing puddles. It is frequently occurring in many areas of the city. The concerned authority shows little interest in sorting out the depressions in the roads and blocked drains that are the source of the puddles in the first place,” says Shabeehul Hussain, a trader in Saddar area.

Asghar Ali, a manager at Rawalpindi Waste Management Company, says: “We do embark on regular sanitisation of the road ditches and drainage systems, however during periods of sustained wet weather it is expected that puddles will form. I would urge members of the public to make us aware of any blocked drains in the city and we will arrange for action to be taken to rectify the problem.” “But to repair the road depressions is not our responsibility,” adds Asghar.

“On Shah Khalid Colony service road it could be poor drainage, I don't know. Or it could be that the ground is saturated and there is no place for the water to go. But until the rainfall stops and the flood waters recede, pedestrians continue to face bad conditions,” says Sakeena Bibi living there.

“I found some drivers inconsiderate on my way towards Fauji Foundation Hospital. They drove through rainwater at speeds instead of slow crawl, throwing water onto other road users heavily soaking them. Bikers suffered the most,” says Shafaat Hasan from Afzal Town, Gharibabad. “I was deliberately targeted,” adds Shafaat.

“I saw a young male driver swerving all along driving into puddles on purpose to splash school children walking home. They were soaked at least five times by other drivers speeding through puddles. They swerved into a puddle on purpose to soak students,” says Irum Hasan from Fazal Town.

“In Commercial Market Satellite Town, I saw one naughty boy driving back and forth through a large puddle to intentionally splash pedestrians, while another biker deliberately drove through a puddle to splash a walker before laughing with his friend sitting behind,” says Khadim Hussain from the area.

“It doesn’t take a lot of rain to cause puddles problem. Any rainfall we receive is going to be runoff because menacing potholes throughout the city can be seen like we have in our area. The potholes near the traffic intersection are quite old,” says Amjad Ali from Dhoke Hafiz.

“I constantly managed the flow of water over myself: wiping my helmet visor, feeling water drops on my seat. This constant attention was tiring, and keeps me from monitoring other things I should be keeping my eye on. Suddenly, unexpectedly a passing car hit a puddle, burying me in a blinding wave of water,” Ishtiaq Hussain from Chaklala Bazaar recounted his travel through Rawal Road.