•Pedestrian bridge
In a nation of pedestrians, where less than 10% of the citizens own cars of their own, it is frightening to note that only about 15% of road users use pedestrian bridges for crossing highways with heavy vehicular movements.
The Lagos State government has demonstrated enough capacity and responsibility by taking giant strides in the provision of pedestrian bridges in places with high vehicular movements and high incidence of crashes, but pedestrians prefer risking their lives by crossing the highways, reports Daily Independent.
Only few of such bridges were available in the past, but successive civilian governments in the State deployed several billions of Naira to construct a number of new and modern ones to stem the high number of pedestrians losing their lives from vehicles knocking them over.
On Sunday February 11 this year the Lagos State Government through, Tokunbo Wahab, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, described the crossing of major highways in the state by pedestrians as an offence, adding that any defaulter caught will be prosecuted.
Wahab stated that officials of the State Environmental Safety Corps LAGESC, popularly known as Kick Against Indiscipline, alongside other agencies have been instructed to enforce this directive immediately, stating “Crossing the highway is an offence in Lagos State.
“Lagos State Government has given a marching order to LAGESC officials, (KAI) Marshall and other law enforcement officials to arrest anyone crossing the highway and then charge them to court immediately.”
The commissioner further urged residents to make use of pedestrian bridges, “Please, use the pedestrian bridges across the state,” he said.
Following his directive, the officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps LAGESC, on Monday, dislodged miscreants and beggars occupying the pedestrian bridges in the state.
According to Wahab, the enforcement became necessary following complaints from the public concerning the activities of the miscreants and beggars which discourage pedestrians using the bridge.
But, the question that needs to be answered is the commitment of the average pedestrian to using these pedestrian bridges in the first place.
Aside from the huge financial investments the government made to erect the bridges, one needs to also look at the irreparable implications that could arise from not using the bridges.
Much as people know the inherent danger associated with crossing highways where vehicles speed at over 80kms per hour, yet they throw caution to the winds thinking they could wittingly run faster than any approaching vehicle.
This is not always the case as some drivers are at a higher speed than they might have estimated. The outcome is better imagined than envisaged.
The most worrisome are the number of pedestrians who brazenly cross or attempt to cross the highways right under the foot of these pedestrian bridges.
They also expect oncoming vehicles to slow for them and failure to do that, they throw insults at the drivers driving those vehicles.
Some people are just incurable law breakers and it does not matter the legal implications or the penalties they could be made to face as a result of their actions or inactions, they will still break the law.
The stories of ‘hit and run’ drivers are therefore, commonplace on Nigerian roads, involving pedestrians crossing highways, even when there are pedestrian bridges available.
The sight of people running across the roads where we have pedestrian bridges is nauseating and an eyesore.
Some pedestrians accosted by this paper for not using the pedestrian bridges despite being near one which should be a motivation gave the following as reasons for not using the foot bridges;
Bridges Are Too High
Madam Ify, a middle aged woman who said wanted to go across the road to visit her on Ogudu road, complained that the foot bridges are too high. It takes some physical strength to climb a foot bridge and her health cannot support climbing such heights.
Johnson, a student at Yaba College of Technology, said: “some of the steps are too steep, making some of my friends to complain of missing their steps as they use the bridge.’
It Is Beggars’ Colony
Many of the pedestrians also complain that some of the bridges are infested with beggers, who harass and weary bridge users with emotional laden overtures to the point of embarrassment.
Overcrowded
Ireti Comfort, who simply said she is leaving around Gbagada, at one of the pedestrian bridges at Oshodi, said: “some of the pedestrian bridges are always overcrowded with the users lacking manners, making them to bump into you either when you are ascending or descending the bridge and will not even apologise, expecting you to be the one to apologise.
“The overcrowdedness gives me the fear that they could collapse, especially the old bridges.”
Criminal Attacks
Chima a store owner at Bolade Market, Oshodi, said: “most of these pedestrian bridges in Lagos are criminal haven, where many have been dispossessed of their valuables and many women raped at night by street urchins who make the bridges their homes without anybody coming to their aids.
Fear of Height
A middle aged man who calls himself Panama, said the fear of height is the reason why is afraid of climbing the pedestrian bridges.
Dilapidation
Abbey Fagbola, said the Onipanu pedestrian bridge used to be derelict at a time and almost collapsed with gaping holes where one can see cars speeding past from the bridge walkway.
“I cannot remember if such a rickety pedestrian bridge still exists in any part of Lagos”.
Filthiness
Some of the bridges are not clean. People leave all kinds of dirt and refuse on the walkway, at a time the Lagos State Government has to embark on the cleaning of the bridges using designated individuals.
Impatient Pedestrians
Some Lagosians are too in a hurry to meet up with appointments, preferring to risk their lives. But it is better to be late than to be late.
Lack of Fitness
Many Lagosians are not fit and thus find climbing the bridge burdensome.
No matter the reasons put forward for not using the pedestrian bridges is not tenable when you juxtapose it with the attendant consequence of being knocked down by a moving vehicle.
The speed of an approaching vehicle notwithstanding, the impact it will have on a pedestrian trying to cross its pathway cannot be underestimated.
To encourage adherence and usage of pedestrian bridges the government should apart from practical enforcement using its law enforcement agencies, it should also go further by providing strong and high median fencing of about 500 meters long or even longer on each side of the foot bridges.
This is the most potent antidote for stopping pedestrians from crossing the highways, especially those doing so at the foot of the bridges.
A practical example is the one erected under the Ojota foot bridge.
Street lights and shades should also be provided on the bridges to safeguard pedestrians from the sun and rains.
The same Ojota has two pedestrian bridges. One is a modern edifice with room for disabled people and there is a stretch of metal barricade standing between pedestrians and the road.
It spans to the end of the long road, just to prevent pedestrians from making a dash across the ever-busy road.
When this initiative was effected, bouncers and officers of Lagos State’s Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) were placed in various areas to enforce the use of the bridges.
Many people who attempted to dash across the three-lane road were arrested and fined. And it helped to a good extent.
People started using the bridges to the point that some traffic Twitter handles were reporting heavy traffic activities on the bridges.
But, it did not last. As soon as enforcement was relaxed, the people went back to their old ways of crossing the highways as this present order will eventually end up.
The Lagos State Government recently repaired the Alapere Pedestrian Bridge after damages from an articulated low-bed truck attempting to navigate the bridge carrying heavy-duty equipment that exceeded the provided standard design headroom of 5.4 meters.
According to a press release from the Lagos State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, the bridge had been in use for over fifteen years until this unfortunate event.
The Ministry recalled similar occurrences at Alakija-Trade Fair and Apapa Oshodi within the past year, distressingly, this is said to be the third bridge that has experienced damage in a short period, posing challenges to our infrastructural growth, especially given the limited resources of the state government.
Throwing up the negative perception pedestrians and road transporters have about Pedestrian bridges that only see these bridges as gangatual edifices erected for the purpose of siphoning money, without recognising its vital role of reducing pedestrian deaths on the roads.
The first pedestrian bridge in Nigeria was a steel structure erected near the Idumota Cenotaph on Lagos Island in the colonial era.
However, the first two concrete of such bridges were constructed in Iddo Railway Terminus to connect the bustling market across the road and the other was from Oyingbo to Otto near the old Leventis Mainland Hotel.
The two bridges were planned towards the 1960 Independence celebration which also served as reference for the construction of steel ones at Jibowu and Palmgrove on Ikorodu Road.
