Pavements for pedestrians, streets for moving vehicles

Except for few instances where due to the unavailability of off-street parking lots, city authorities designate some areas for on-street parking, the general rule is that streets in cities must be freed for vehicular movements in both directions.

Pavements are also constructed to further accentuate the fact that streets must be used only by moving vehicles while pedestrians use pavements mostly constructed on the side of streets and roads.

Despite this accepted international practice, most streets in the cities of the country, especially in commercial areas have been taken over by either traders or people plying other trades, thus causing commotion as both vehicles and pedestrians jostle for space, especially during peak periods.

Most of the intense traffic situations experienced in certain suburbs of our cities is as a result of the indiscipline experienced with respect to the use of streets and pavements.

While the government’s intention for the construction of pavements is to allow for the ease of movement for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic, that purpose is being grossly abused as mechanics, hawkers and traders in general see the pavements as an extension of their shops.
Some even arrogate spaces on pavements to themselves as if they were their bona fide property or they had inalienable rights to such spaces.

The front page story of today’s Daily Graphic cites few instances of the takeover of pavements in the city of Accra meant for pedestrians. It is a call to the authorities to take action, else a time will come and soon, when there would be absolutely no movement in our cities because the streets are choked.

In fact, the waste generated by the traders and mechanics among others contribute largely to the choking of gutters, insanitary conditions and the incidents of floods when it rains.

The Daily Graphic, therefore, calls on the city authorities to crack the whip to bring sanity to our city space and environment.

In other jurisdictions, apart from the fact that no one dares engage in any trading activity on the streets and on the pavements because such persons would be promptly brought to book, there are actually some streets which have been paved for only pedestrian use to allow for free movement – not even hawkers are allowed on such stretches of the streets.

In Ghana, however, even the freeing of pavements, especially in the central business districts, have been so politicised that traders and people practising other vocations occupy them with all the impudence they can muster.

That is why there is always chaos in our cities and perpetrators of petty thievery, pick pocketing and other social vices always have conducive environments to operate in.

Human lives are also lost in the melee and cacophony of disorder in our cities as vehicles and pedestrians compete for the little space left for them to manoeuvre as they go about their day-to-day activities.

This ought not be so. The taxes paid by the citizens entitle them to orderly and clean cities as well as protection from harm and we urge the city authorities to employ their bye-laws to bring recalcitrant people to book.

More off-street parking places must also be constructed for vehicles, new allocations made for traders and more pavements constructed to free up our city centres for easy movement.