Pedestrians may soon find a wall on Expressway

[Salman]

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority is considering a proposal to construct a six-feet high safety wall along the Islamabad Expressway to prevent the pedestrians from crossing the road at points other than the designated ones.

Most of the people of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi residing on both sides of the Islamabad Expressway are not using the overhead bridges built on various points of the road for their safety. Despite police warnings the pedestrians do not bother to use the bridges to cross the road and instead put their lives at risk by walking across it. The pedestrians usually think that they save their time by crossing the road instead of using the overhead bridges. But practically they waste time while waiting to cross to the other side of the road through heavy speeding traffic.

An Islamabad Traffic Police official, while talking to APP on Wednesday, said they were doing their best to educate the road users on road safety and different signboards have been installed across the capital roads for their guidance. However, he regretted that most of the pedestrians prefer crossing the roads instead of using overhead bridges, which sometimes leads to road accidents. Several fatal road accidents have occurred on the Islamabad Expressway due to the negligence of pedestrians, he added.

The official requested the people to use overhead bridges, which were installed for their safety and smooth flow of traffic. The Expressway is one of the busiest roads, as it is used by most of the traffic coming from Lahore to enter Islamabad and Rawalpindi, he added. Atif Noor, a motorist, told APP that overhead bridges had been installed at a cost of millions of rupees for the safety of people living across the Expressway, but most of them did not use that facility putting not only their own lives at risk but those of the motorists too.

Zohaib Kazmi, a public vehicle driver, said that the people who do not use the bridges for crossing the road and instead walk across the road, disturbed the traffic flow. Meanwhile, Qaiser Zaman, a government employee, said that he always used overhead bridges that had been erected for the safety of pedestrians crossing the Expressway