Overhead bridges risky place for pedestrians

Zainab felt safe enough using the pedestrian bridge near T&T Centre on Islamabad Expressway. Suddenly, she was shoved out of the way, by another pedestrian who had seen the danger -- a motorcycle was right on her heels.

Zainab said that it was a near miss. Pedestrian bridges are common features now; their purpose is to take pedestrians safely from one side of the expressway to the other side. But some Pindiites have found other uses for these bridges. Motorbikes, now commonly used in the city have turned the pedestrian bridges into an expressway.

Before the motorbike incursion, pedestrians used to share these bridges with traders and beggars, but recent threats posed by reckless bike riders seem to have made these bridges a risky place for the pedestrian. Some of these bridges are not all staircases. They are constructed with a paved entrance and exit -- the ramp originally constructed to aid the mobility of the disabled members of the society has been turned into an access way by bike riders.

The pedestrian bridge near Kuri Road is also one of such bridges. Fizza's experience with the bike rider occurred two weeks ago on the bridge, when traffic build- up along the expressway caused some bike riders to take the pedestrian bridge overhead. The experience did not shock her as much as the confrontation she had with the bike rider for not moving out of the way on time. “The bike rider said he had been honking,” she said. “It was shocking because bike riders are not allowed on pedestrian bridges. He was accusing Fizza, when she should be accusing him.”

Another pedestrian, Sabeeh-ul-Hassan did not have a near miss, but was also surprised the first time he saw a motorbike on the pedestrian bridge. “I was surprised because that was the first time that I would see a bike on a pedestrian bridge. My first thought was that we pedestrians don't have any sanctuary. Now that bikes are everywhere, we have to be on the lookout everywhere. I think that the government should do something about this,” he said.

The Expressway has many such pedestrian bridges. Baqir Sajjad, a pedestrian in this area says: “The pedestrian bridge was created for their use. Bike riders are disturbing us here. These pedestrian overhead bridges along the expressway should be blocked with barriers of fair size to avoid further abuse by these bike riders. The claim by the bike riders that the ramp on the bridge is meant for them is wrong. It is originally meant for the disabled on wheelchair. How can they say that?” They shouldn’t be allowed to be there," Baqir adds.