| August 06, 2008 | Wednesday | Sha'aban 3, 1429 |
Designing for pedestrian safety
ONE wonders if the civil society exists in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) to protest at the violations of human rights and give voice to the plight of women in the conflict-hit Swat valley and the troubled tribal areas. The ongoing war on terror has brought death to many innocent women and children in these areas.
In the last four days, about 12 girl schools have been torched by militants as a military operation is going on in Swat. The total number of girl schools destroyed so far has reaches to 70 and about 17,000 students have been deprived of their right to education.
The heartbreaking reality is that civil society organisations and activists -- mostly associated with NGOs working on projects related to rights, advocacy and mobilisation -- have not uttered a single word to condemn violation of rights as they used to do in the past, when it came to issues like the Hudood Ordinances, violence against women and discriminatory customary practices like Swara and honour killing.
Activists and NGOs under the umbrella of different forums like the Alliance for the Protection of Human Rights (APHR), Women Action Forum, Joint Action Committee and others expressed their concerns whenever any issue affecting the society surfaced.
The NGOs -- side by side with the capacity-building workshops and consultative meetings in Peshawar’s luxurious hotels, followed by lavish dinners and lunches, arranged with donors’ money -- also sometimes came out to protest in front of the Peshawar Press Club, holding banners and chanting slogans for any violation of human rights in general and women’s rights in particular.
The last time the Women Action Forum held such a protest was in April against stoning to death of a couple in Mohmand Agency allegedly by the militants. They demanded on the occasion that the state should take strict legal measures to curb punishments by non-state parties. The number of protestors, who turned up was so small, the number of photographers and mediapersons was greater than the protestors, who quickly vanished after getting photographed and giving comments to news channels.It is ironic that one tribal woman Dr Begum Jan, hailing from the tribal region, became the first Pakistani woman to receive the International Women of Courage Award from the US State Department, but neither her nor any other women rights organisation has shown any courage to raise voice against plight of women in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), infected with militants who deny right to formal education and work to women as they consider it abhorrent to Islam.
Once a rather brave APHR, a group of civil society organisations, protested when a woman minister in the previous Punjab government was killed by a fanatic, but currently it has not protested against denial of rights to women by extremists in the Talibanised parts of the NWFP and Fata. The APHR, which condemned closure of 204 community primary schools for girls in the tenure of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government in the NWFP has neither openly condemned nor has been able to draw donors’ attention to the grave problems of women arising due to Talibanisation.
The government seems to be failing to tackle with the Talibanisation issue effectively as is evident from the Sirat-i-Mustaqeem operation, launched to save Peshawar from the Taliban who still lurk in the suburbs. But the NGOs working on women rights have also not been able to come up with projects to deal with the recent issues arising out of extremism and militancy. Money could be appropriately used for social and economic development of society in an effort to fight terrorism having roots in poverty and lack of opportunities.
In stark contrast to the past, the civil society has cowed down as the society is slipping into the hands of the Taliban as the government is unable to find any solution to the problem. Most of the women rights activists, who used to openly criticise the Musharraf regime’s policies and took part in protests, are now sitting in the provincial and national assemblies. Was this the final destination of the civil society organisations?
A MOTHER and her toddler on a stroller both narrowly missed serious injury if not death last week when they were almost hit by a car while crossing the multiple-lane fast traffic Jinnah Avenue.
The near accident took place at about 6:30 in the evening on the stretch of Jinnah Avenue sandwiched between G-9 and F-9 sectors. Mother and child were crossing the road to head towards their home in residential G-9 sector after a visit to the nearby Fatima Jinnah Park in F-9 sector.
Daily thousands of pedestrians in the capital city risk death in this manner, especially when crossing major roads like Jinnah Avenue, 7th Avenue, 9th Avenue, I.J. Principal Road, 7-Up Road, Islamabad Highway, etc.
Many pedestrians, however, have not been as fortunate as the above mother and child.
Pedestrian deaths accounted for 43.1 per cent of the total number of deaths in road accidents in Pakistan in 2006, followed by motorcyclist deaths, 32.05 per cent, according to a June 2007 report on Road Safety in Pakistan by the National Road Safety Secretariat, Ministry of Communications. The national total number of police reported deaths due to road accidents in 2006 is 4,971.
The only overhead bridges for pedestrians in the capital used to be found on Islamabad Highway. These were dismantled earlier this year when widening work began on this busy road. Since then, hundreds of people living in residential colonies on either side of the road who depend on public transport for mobility, court death every time they cross this highway.
Months after these bridges were taken off from Islamabad Highway, one of them was finally re-located and installed on 9th Avenue recently. Three other bridges that were on Islamabad Highway are expected to be put up soon on I.J. Principal Road which divides Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Plans are also afoot to install some 30 or so new overhead bridges on the renovated Islamabad Highway, 7th Avenue, 9th Avenue, I.J. Principal Road, Khayaban-i-Suharwardy, Kashmir Highway, Faisal Avenue, Park Road, Lehtrar Road and Murree Road.
Islamabad is definitely trying to move towards the direction of being more pedestrian-friendly. But judging by the above mother and child incident last week, it looks like the city needs more than merely 30 or so bridges.
Jinnah Avenue, like the other roads named above, also possess design features that contribute to unsafe behaviour by both pedestrians and motorists. Not only do these excessively wide, high volume multi-lane roads encourage higher motorist speeds, the lack of safe crossings at regular intervals contribute to pedestrians crossing these roads at unsafe locations.
In the case of Jinnah Avenue, landuse decisions also aggravate the situation. For example, the separation of a residential area like G-9 sector from a public park like the Fatima Jinnah Park in F-9 sector with not one but two multi-lane roads, viz., Jinnah Avenue and Ibn-i-Sina Avenue, force pedestrians to cross these roads in places that are usually not safe.
Recently also, raised pedestrian sidewalks or walkways have been built or are being built along many roads and streets in Islamabad. These may help to reduce walking-along-the-road pedestrian crashes by providing positive separation of pedestrians from motor vehicle traffic.
Pedestrian facilities like road bumps or speed breakers and zebra crossings are already common in many places in Islamabad, especially near pedestrian-generators like hospitals, schools, markets, and even within residential areas especially on streets where children often play.
However, speed breakers, footpaths and pedestrian bridges are necessary but not sufficient measures to ensure a pedestrian-friendly environment. Ensuring pedestrian safety requires that we consider the following factors as well.
Firstly, pedestrians are legitimate roadway users and are a part of every roadway environment. Yet they are frequently overlooked in the quest to build more sophisticated transportation systems which are primarily built to facilitate the smooth and efficient flow of motor vehicles.
More attention, therefore, needs to be paid to the presence of pedestrians in development projects. Whether building new infrastructures or commercial and entertainment areas, it should be assumed that people will walk, and thus plans should be made to accommodate pedestrians in development projects from the very beginning to ensure their safety.
Road designs should be introduced that are safer for pedestrians, and pedestrian bridges for new fast traffic roads should also be installed as soon as the roads are completed.
Secondly, road safety is the dual responsibility of both motorists and pedestrians. Pedestrians who are ignorant or uneducated about safety risks and the proper use of crosswalks, pedestrian signals, overhead bridges and other pedestrian facilities are as much at fault in challenging public safety on the road as motorists who are careless about and insensitive to their responsibilities concerning pedestrians.
Education programmes and public awareness campaigns about safe practices on the road thus ought to target both pedestrians and motorists. Road safety education should also be incorporated in the school curriculum, especially from class 1 to 5.
Finally, it would help to develop a pedestrian master plan in order to identify all potential issues and problem locations within the pedestrian environment in Islamabad. High-crash locations and corridors should be identified and inventories of pedestrian generators such as parks, libraries, hospitals, educational institutions, factories, weekly bazaars, etc., should be made before determining whether the appropriate solutions should involve operational or construction measures, general design or education and enforcement.
