I refer to a recent letter about accidents at flyovers (Sunday Times, June 13).
The local authorities and the police seem to have little idea of the basics of road design and usage.
It is the job of the police to ensure that road users follow the road rules, without exception, and it is the job of the local authorities to ensure that roads and road infrastructure keep to internationally accepted standards, and that these standards are maintained at all times– without exception.
In the case of flyovers, the following should be the minimum standards:
a) Approach speeds to flyovers should be clearly marked on permanent signage.
b) Approach lanes should be clearly marked; close to the approach, lane markings should become unbroken lines, and these should not be crossed.
c) “No stopping” zones should be established with permanent signage at-least 50 metres before the approach and 50 metres after the exit.
d) Pedestrian pavements should be cleared of all obstacles starting at-least 50 metres before the approach and exit sides of the ramp; fencing should be installed so pedestrians cannot step onto the street.
e) The entire area should be well lit at night, and reflective poles (not tar-barrels) should be set up on either side of the approach to the ramps.
The last point is especially important for Sri Lanka.
The authorities here seem to take it for granted that if the lights on a vehicle are working, the driver can see everything in front of him. In fact, it is the lack of adequate street lighting that is the main cause of accidents at night.
The dazzling headlights of oncoming traffic, water droplets on the windscreens, pedestrians walking on the streets, often wearing dark clothing, including head-to-toe black outfits, and cyclists riding without lights – all this on top of inadequate or no street lighting – makes for a perfect disaster scenario.
We Sri Lankans should first get the little things right. In many European cities, very narrow streets accommodate many more vehicles – and pedestrians – than similar narrow roads in Sri Lanka.
The answer is orderliness and good road design and road infrastructure.
The answer does not always lie in making roads bigger and wider, or in building alternative roads.
Neil Fernando,
Colombo 5 |
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