Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Tamale
THE rapid population growth in the Tamale metropolis certainly comes with its resultant human traffic and other social problems, particularly at the central business district.
The erection of railings that serve as barricade in the median of the very busy dual carriageway around the central market has made it more difficult and dangerous for pedestrians to cross the roads.
Even though some pedestrian crossings have been provided, they are still not enough to contain the human traffic on the side of the roads, waiting for discerning motorists to stop for them to cross over.
A number of pedestrians, including schoolchildren, have been hit by impatient drivers in their attempt to cross the road because of the unwillingness of the motorists to stop for them.
Just last week, a teacher, Osman Issah, was hit by a motorist who failed to stop at a zebra crossing even though some cars ahead of him had stopped for the pedestrians to cross.
It is to forestall such unfortunate occurrences that most residents of Tamale have appealed to the city authorities to put up a footbridge around the area at the market to ensure the safety of pedestrians who move to and from the market.
The provision of the bridge would also facilitate the easy movement of vehicles on the rather busy roads.
‘‘Indeed, it would not be out of place if the assembly puts up the bridge because when you quantify the benefits, it would certainly outweigh the cost of such a project since it would protect life and property,’’ Janet Yahaya, a student, suggested.
However, the development engineer of the Department of Urban Roads in Tamale, Mr Charles Abuga Peh, explained that apart from the huge sums of money involved in the construction of a footbridge, they are often not used by pedestrians, thus turning them into white elephants.
He cited the case of the national capital, Accra, where a number of footbridges had been turned into dens for nefarious activities instead of their intended purpose.
The engineer further explained that the railings were erected to prevent pedestrians from crossing the road haphazardly, thereby endangering their lives.
‘‘We however appreciate the genuine concerns raised by the people, and would liaise with the metropolitan assembly to see how we can address the problems, Mr Peh said.
Another area of worry to motorists and pedestrians is the defective traffic lights in the metropolis. Indeed, apart from the traffic lights at the Gukpena’s palace and the jubilee park junctions on the hospital road, the rest are out of order.
They made particular reference to those at the central mosque, Standard Chartered and Agric, Ridge junctions that have been dysfunctional for almost a year now and for which reason a number of fatal accidents had occurred.
‘‘I fear the situation could worsen during the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament next month as there would be an influx of vehicles into the metropolis to witness the group ‘‘D’’ matches that would be played here,’’ Hamdiyya Mohammed, a resident observed.
She therefore entreated the authorities to ensure that the defective lights were all worked on while new ones are fixed at other potentially dangerous intersections.
According to the development engineer, the company that installed the traffic lights designed them in such a way that only their technicians could fix them when they become defective.
Apart from the fact that the technicians are domiciled in Accra, Mr Peh also added that the lack of funds to pay the company could account for the delay in fixing the defective lights.
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