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Thursday March 28, 2024

Signal-free road is dangerous to cross

By Ibne Ahmad
October 23, 2016

Pedestrians have a tough time crossing the road with vehicles speeding on the signal-free Airport Link Road at different points. The ever-increasing traffic on this road had already become a menace for pedestrians; now add to this the woes of this newly-planned project of ‘free of pedestrians’ road.

“Getting to the other side of the road has become a formidable task. My kids have to go to Islamabad daily for school by public transport as with an average income I can’t afford to pay the high fees of pick and drop services. They are really facing problems each time they try to cross the road,” says Mohsen Reza from Shah Khalid Colony.

Murtaza Naqvi , a resident of Tajabad says: “I work in a private office in the capital city so I am a regular traveller to Islamabad. Speeding vehicles give me tough time, therefore, often I have to wait for quite a longer time to cross the road as the absence of traffic signals doesn’t allow a vehicle-free road at any time to help me cross. Maybe, it is a good planning for the motorists but where do the pedestrians stand in this new traffic scheme sans overhead bridge or the underpass?

"Speeding vehicles go non-stop and the pedestrians get hardly a few seconds to cross. People can be seen running for their lives as the oncoming traffic will not stop for them. We seem so helpless,” says Nazar Ali, a student from Dhoke Raja Muhammad Khan.

A university student, Syeda Shehrbano, a resident of Gulzar-e-Quaid, says: “During VIP movement, pedestrians have to wait longer, grudgingly. She also says pedestrians should be allowed to move freely as they do not obstruct speeding VIP vehicles.”

“The vehicles are all the time on the move, the traffic does not stop. Vehicles continue to speed leaving people stranded," says Humaira Shah, one of the residents of Faisal Colony. The designers of signal-free roads should have included the pedestrians' right of way in their plan.

Ansa Zaidi from Gulzar-e-Quaid says: “Customarily we are not excellent planners. We sort of go by routine steps in our family, community and national life. We believe in the present, not taking any lesson from the past, nor obviously worried about the future. There are dangers in no planning, and worse still in ill planning.”

“The excuse the pedestrians do not use already constructed overhead bridges or underpasses and try to cross the road dangerously; so there is no need to take on such projects, is just a lame one,” adds Ansa.

“If the city fathers fail to follow planning principles, are unable to take note of the pedestrians’ plight, refuse to shove off the exaggerated sense of their own importance and dogmatic views, turn down the established norms of city development, the end result for the city and its residents can leave a trail of miseries in the form of accidents as disastrous as that after a tsunami; rising from that has been impossible for scores of people, for others it has taken decades,” says Faraz Ali, a resident of Fazal Town. 

Hasan Najafi from Mangtaal says: “Already the symptoms of this syndrome have been visible as many pedestrians have been injured so far and a few severely. A vehicle once hit a tractor which led to the killing of four or more labourers. The smart way to achieve better results is to stitch well in time with lesson learnt from the past.”