A bridge too far in Nairobi?
Hundreds of pedestrians have been arrested in Kenya’s capital Nairobi for failing to use footbridges.
Police and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) have followed up a public awareness campaign about the need to use pedestrian crossings with an enforcement swoop on major city roads including Thika Road, Mombasa Road, the Outer Ring Road and Waiyaki Way. These urban highways record dozens of pedestrian deaths every year.
The crackdown began in late July and at least 250 pedestrians had been arrested by 4th August. Another 50 were arrested today, according to the NTSA. Those apprehended face prosecution for obstruction of the free flow of traffic, an offence which carries a fine of up to 5000 Kenyan Shillings (around US $38).
In a statement the NTSA said: “The authority urges pedestrians to use designated footbridges/crossings at all times as crossing in undesignated areas not only endangers their lives but also puts other road users at risk and disrupts traffic."
But are pedestrian footbridges fit for purpose, or are pedestrians being penalised for a system failure? People attempting to cross multi-lane roads at informal crossing points is a common sight across Africa. Often sited far apart, footbridges can be perceived as inaccessible and impractical, meaning some pedestrians prefer a quick dash to the diversion. Clearly something is not working.
A literature review of available research on several countries, published last year in the Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives journal together with a study of footbridges in Dhaka, Bangladesh, found that pedestrians are less likely to use footbridges if they perceive them to be time inefficient, unsafe (because of crime), poorly designed and requiring too much physical effort. Young people were typically least likely to obey the signals provided by footbridge infrastructure.
Safe system designers are critical of footbridges and argue that, wherever possible, pedestrians should be integrated into the road network and public space, with at-grade crossings and speed limits to match. “Proponents of [footbridges] argue that these bridges are made for the safety of pedestrians, by moving pedestrians out of the way of speeding cars,” says a report from the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy. “In reality, by displacing people, pedestrian bridges simply reinforce the dominion of vehicles over people on the streets. Pedestrian bridges discourage walking and cycling and exacerbates poor road safety for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists alike. Separating people from the street reinforces the prioritization of personal motor vehicles, while encouraging speeding, driver negligence, and traffic fatalities.”