Road safety and careless pedestrians

According to a report of the World Health Organisation (WHO), 40 per cent of the road users, who die in accidents, are pedestrians. Almost every day a pedestrian meet an accident in Dhaka. It is true that errant and reckless drivers are responsible for most of these deaths, but reckless movement of pedestrians is also a reason for the pedestrian fatalities.

Pedestrians are often seen to be jaywalking leaving the sidewalk and walking on the busy roads talking on their mobile phones. They are also seen suddenly getting onto roads without caring for oncoming vehicles and responding to horns of motorised and non-motorised vehicles such as rickshaws or bicycles. This poses risks not only to their own lives but also the lives of other road users.

Often drivers have to take preventive action to avert hitting any such reckless pedestrian. Sometimes drivers in such situations are able to save the pedestrians and sometimes they can't. Sometimes they end up colliding with other vehicles. Even it is found that pedestrians are non-responsive to cyclists probably thinking that even if a cyclist ends up hitting any of them, it will not cause that much injury. They fail to realise that sometimes cyclists put themselves in trouble to save the pedestrians. Like the pedestrians, cyclists are also 'vulnerable road users'. Therefore to ensure their own safety, pedestrians should use the roads with utmost care. Especially, they should follow the basics like checking both sides of a road thoroughly before getting there, avoiding the use of mobile phones while walking on the road or crossing it, responding to and communicating with other road users and most importantly following the traffic rules.

The writer is a transportation           engineer in Thailand.  ridwanq@gmail.com