Pedestrians Right To Road Must Be Observed
In as much as vehicles have the right to use the road uninterrupted, pedestrians too have the same right to use the road without being coerced into gutters.
In Sierra Leone today using the roads is a matter of being cautious otherwise you will be knocked off the road and forced into one of these smelly drainages. A pedestrian is a person who uses the road on foot. Pedestrians in Sierra Leone are not given the respect they deserve as users of the road. At times when you walk the narrow streets of Freetown, you are always at the mercy of recalcitrant drivers. They most times knock people off the road with impunity. Being that police presence is not everywhere in this country, especially in the rural areas where lawlessness is the order of the day, it makes it worse.
Post Colonial day Sierra Leone inherited narrow road systems where motor bikes could hardly have a smooth ride, let alone talk of a car. The road network systems are narrow and are in a very bad shape to say the least. Past Governments are now seemingly blind to the deplorable state of these road network .All what they have been doing is finding ways and means how to cling on to power for life and amassing wealth for their families.
Sierra Leoneans are not oblivious to the fact that all our leaders since Independence to now have not put good road network as a priority for their people. They see the fixing of roads as less important, but it is a very important yardstick for measuring our economic growth.
In fact, it is a common scenario to see Sierra Leoneans advocating for other prerequisites for development leaving behind the most crucial one which is accessible road network. A good road net work is a strong backbone on which our agricultural sector can be developed.
A good agricultural project cannot be achieved by poor road network. For instance, if there is a proper and accessible road network in the country, produce from agricultural areas like Kabala could reach other cities around the country without any hindrance. Presently, Kabala, with a dilapidated road network, has become a worse case as perishable goods like tomato fruits could be easily smashed as a result of bad roads leading to their destinations.
Using pedestrian’s right as a premise for this piece, in Freetown particularly, one sees him or herself in the picture of his or her right being trampled on while walking along the streets of Freetown. Lawless drivers do not have the hesitation to run a car into one ending his or her life with impunity.
Our roads and streets within and outside the city are so narrow that cars and humans are being crammed into them in such a way that there could hardly be space for one to pass without colliding with other pedestrians.
With a badly constructed colonial road legacy, Sierra Leoneans have done little or no effort to fix the dilapidated road menace, and from comparison to other developing countries, Sierra Leone has the worst road network in the world.
Looking at the roads leading into the provincial areas, one is not blind to the pit falls or pot holes on the roads. Traveling to places like Kono and Kambia, one would experience one of the most hectic and tedious journeys. One cannot imagine you are on a holiday trip to Kono, the ups and downs you would enjoy in a jam-packed bus where one could hardly stretch legs by the time you get to Mambudu check point all over your body is sore. Amidst all this inefficient road system, it would be an under statement to say our roads are bad beyond imagination.
While pondering over these poor road conditions, one wonders what is the Sierra Leone Road Authority (SLRA) doing to upgrade our horrible roads? What are they doing to sensitize drivers on road safety measures? Every year the traffic Division in the SLP has monumental records of road accidents due to poor road network and poor road safety measures.
In other developing nations, the traffic division at the end of every year they put road safety measures by putting road signs on the roads to protect their citizens. Here in Sierra Leone, it seems that the road authorities are only bent on issuing out licenses without scrutinizing applicants for competency. It is out of this lethargic attitude by the road transport authorities to screen drivers on road signs competency that has led to the many road accident per annum.
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