By Nana Akuba Dadson
It only takes but one trip past the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, on the Accra-Nsawam side of the road, to detect the very dangerous and life-threatening problem we have; pedestrians scaling over the median separating the two sides of traffic flow.
If this problem falls on any drawing board, the first thoughts to strike anyone’s mind would be to provide the pedestrians with an alternative means of getting to the other side of the road safely. But lo! That alternative is already in place; there is an overhead footbridge conveniently placed to serve pedestrians.
It is very disturbing to observe that some parents even cross the street with very young children in tow. Once a man lifted his young son of about 5 years and set him on the other side of the median before he scaled over it himself, without thought for what could have happened within that very short time had the child dashed across the street on his own. On another occasion, a fully matured mother with her infant tucked to her back, raise her skirts above her knees and scaled the wall, not for a moment pausing to think that the wrap could have loosened around the child in the process and the baby could have fallen and struck its head on the concrete or asphalt.
There is no particular category of people who are into this terrible practice. All manner of people from various walks of life are guilty of this act: students, well-dressed gentlemen and ladies, market women, hawkers, drivers and their mates, etc, etc.
Others try to be more ‘sensible’ in this thoughtless act by crossing at the end where there is no median. Apart from the fact that their lives too are nonetheless at risk, they also destroy the beautiful landscaping of the area. We are however proud to say that the zoomlion and Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) team that works in the area make it a stern point to send such jaywalkers right back across the street.
The same situation exists at the Avenor Junction and areas near the Caprice Junction, but the occurrences here are almost negligible compared to the Kwame Nkrumah Circle area.
A case of reference for this current situation near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle is the Kaneshie Market area of the Kaneshie-Mallam highway, where after the construction of this major road and two reliable footbridges, pedestrians rampantly crossed the street by scaling over the median. Loss of countless lives and property eventually led to the solution of running barbwire fencing over the top of the wall. This did not immediately deter some vagabonds, who cut out spots in the fencing to run through. However with the vigilant and dedicated attention of the Police and some AMA officials, this trend has been stopped completely.
Needless to say the Kwame Nkrumah Circle situation, if not quickly attended to, will only lead to the same fatal loss of life and property, some of which have already occurred according to sources.
From the Kaneshie Market area situation, the Ghana Highway Authority (or whichever body oversees) should have learnt a very important lesson that in our overcrowded and hard-to-control city of Accra, simply building the roads, the median and a beautiful footbridge for the people is merely half the job done. And a job half done is a job not done.
Essentially, the other half of the job is to ensure that the people are left with absolutely no choice than to use the facilities (footbridge and pedestrian crossing lights) provided. So put barbwire across the median if that will ensure this.
Jaywalking may not be an offence in this country, but in cases as this, the Police and officers of the AMA ought to have the power to arrest and/or fine and/or prosecute such pedestrians to serve as a deterrent.