Pedestrians are most at risk in urban areas due to the large amount of pedestrians and vehicle activity there.
ROAD TRAFFIC INJURY RESEARCH & PREVENTION CENTRE, KARACHI: Pedestrians are most at risk in urban areas due in part to the large amount of pedestrians and vehicle activity there. With this in mind, designing safe, accessible and comprehensive facilities for pedestrians is vital to reducing accidents involving them. Around 1.2 million motor vehicle-related deaths occur every year in the world. To put this in perspective, this fatality number is comparable to that for all communicable diseases.
The Road Traffic Injury Research & Prevention Centre has been collecting road trauma data from five major tertiary care hospitals of Karachi. During 2007–2008, pedestrians fatalities rose by 50 per cent compared to the previous year. In the past few years, several overhead pedestrian bridges were built and it was hoped that these would be used. However, over time, it was observed that the grills built on the median footpaths of such roads, directly below these bridges, were eventually tampered with in most cases. This allowed pedestrians to cross the road at such crossings but this led to a high number of accidents. This needs to be looked into by the city authorities.
Ameer Hussain
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2011.
