Time to take pedestrian safety seriously

DID you know that walking is one of the transport modes that has always been relegated to back benches during transport planning?

Call the roll of intermodal transportation in the Western Hemisphere: airlines, motor vehicles, bicycles, tricycles, ferries, and trains. It is very rare for Western transport researchers to include walking in policy and planning.

However, walking is very common in Africa and Asia. Most South Africans walk from their homes to taxi ranks, bus stations, and train stations.

Pedestrian facilities are a vital element in the transportation system since all trips start and end in walking. Pedestrian Road Safety Action Plan for Accra Metropolitan Assembly 20182022 said: “Walking as a mode of transport often is not prioritised as compared to the other modes of transport in city planning, street, and road design, and particularly road safety. Pedestrians are vulnerable users, meaning they are easily susceptible to serious injury or death in traffic clashes.”

It is regrettable to observe that more often pedestrian needs are not factored into the transport system design. Designing a transport system without factoring in walking as mode of transport is tantamount to increasing the yield of grain in a certain field without potash. In that case, potash may be said to be a limited factor. Simply put, walking is still a limited factor in the South African transport planning.

Pedestrian casualties in Saudi Arabian cities are ascribed to over-crowding, an increased number of vehicles, reckless driving and poor road safety regulations or compliance.

South Africa has similar road challenges. In this country, pedestrians contribute about 40% of Easter road fatalities, passengers 34%, drivers 24%, and cyclists only 2%, partly due to low cycle usage on the typically long holiday travel distances in South Africa. This alarming breakdown demonstrates that pedestrians and passengers, largely the least empowered in society, pay most of the human cost of South Africa’s poor road safety systems and regime, while state organisations pay most of the health services cost, and the economy and business suffer indirect losses via tax, disruptions, and skills.

The safety culture in South Africa contributes to road clashes. For example, pedestrians in Canada do not cross the street when the robot is red (regardless of whether there is an approaching car or not). In the US and UK, motorists respect pedestrian crossings. The term safety culture was first introduced in the safety management lexicon in 1986.

The term was first used by the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group as a causal factor in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine. Reports after that investigation led to safety being defined “as organisational atmosphere where safety is understood to be, and is accepted as, the number one priority.”

It is time that South Africa defined a national safety culture as a well nurtured national atmosphere where safety and health are understood to be and is accepted as the number one priority. Walking must be factored in as a mode of transport in transport planning. It is not a preferred mode of transport but a compulsory mode of transport for the less fortunate in Asia and Africa.

THE first Barcelona-Real Madrid meeting after the departure of Lionel Messi to

Paris Saint-Germain will be headlined on Sunday by two youngsters as a game typically billed as a clash of superstars instead looks to the upcoming talent of Vinicius Jr and Ansu Fati.

The two players still have a lot to prove, but their talent has elevated them to a point where they are becoming the new faces of their clubs.

On Barca’s side, Fati has been one of the few positives in a season that started with the heartbreaking loss of Messi due to a financial crisis that also led to Antoine Griezmann rejoining Atletico Madrid.

After being out for almost a year following a devastating injury to his left knee that required four surgeries, the 18-year-old Spain international returned to the side five games ago and has been Barca’s best player since.

He scored within 10 minutes of coming on as a substitute in his first game back against Levante and netted Barca’s first goal with a beauty from outside the box in a comeback victory over Valencia last Sunday.

His efforts were rewarded on Wednesday when Barcelona announced that he had agreed a new contract that runs until 2027. The 18-year-old’s new deal includes a buyout clause of €1 billion ($1.17 billion).

Fati, who inherited Barcelona’s No 10 jersey from Messi, burst onto the scene for the club at 16, when he became the second youngest player in LaLiga history.

He quickly established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in the world, becoming the youngest player to score in the Champions League and the youngest player to net for Spain.