High Level of Risks and Safety Challenges while Crossing Streets - Case Study Example

Proposal Argument INTRODUCTION Pedestrians are legit users of street facility, and they should hence be able to have access to the facility safely and without unyielding delays. Apart from high-speed freeways and expressways, pedestrians also have a privilege to walk along and to cross streets safely. Unfortunately, most of streets and highways are primarily built to aid the free flow of vehicles. Pedestrian collisions resulting in loss of life and injuries are a serious and frequently occurring problem faced by the community today. Every year hundreds of individuals are killed and face serious injuries due to certain roadways designs and unsafe behaviors revealed by pedestrians and motorists. Old pedestrians and young children are more vulnerable to acquire serious and fatal injuries and are more likely to be smashed by vehicles. According to a report published in 2004 by Federal Highway Administration, approximately 4641 pedestrians lost their lives as a result of traffic crash while more than 7000 pedestrian were reported to acquire serious injuries (Zegeer, Sandt and Scully, “How to Develop a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan”; Rodriguez, Medina, Benekohal, Black and Wang, “Pedestrian Safety on Campus Crosswalks in Big Ten Universities”). Therefore, it is crucial for planners and engineers, traffic safety and enforcement professionals, public health and injury prevention professionals, and decision-makers to be responsible for promoting pedestrian safety at the state or local level to plan, design and build safe walking and crossing networks. It is important for the department of transportation to integrate pedestrian facilities into routine development policies in order to ascertain long run solutions for pedestrian safety. As an effective means towards addressing the issue, building pedestrian overpass over a busy street to improve safety for walkers can be identified as a viable solution. THESIS STATEMENT Pedestrian safety is an emerging issue that has a serious impact on the community. Many pedestrians including old and young children lose their lives in road mishaps. It has thus become essential to reduce the risk of fatalities to pedestrians and ensure their adequate safety. Building pedestrian overpass can be identified to substantiate the objective of attaining pedestrian safety. PROPOSED SOLUTION AND ARGUMENT The growing number of motor vehicles has unarguably perverted the way in which transportation systems and the supportive facilities are designed and built, often at the cost of pedestrians. As a consequence, a significant impact is realized on the pedestrian environment. It has therefore, become essential to demonstrate proactive and responsive assessment of the issue of pedestrian safety. At the same time, there is a greater requirement for defining an action plan as a response to meet the requirement of the emerging issue associated with pedestrian safety. Traditional street system is usually based on simple hierarchies that rest on the assumption that most trips occur by vehicle, so most of the facilities are constructed predominantly for vehicle travel. Besides, some streets are built with inadequate or no walkways, jeopardizing safe pedestrian movement along streets (Zegeer, Sandt and Scully, “How to Develop a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan”). In this regard, one of the viable solutions to ensure adequate safety of pedestrians can be attained by building a pedestrian overpass over a busy street. However, it is crucial to consider the characteristics of pedestrians while designing a pedestrian overpass. Notably, pedestrian population often consists of different groups including senior citizens, young children and people with impairment. Thus, considering these factors will facilitate in appropriate designing of a pedestrian overpass. It is also crucial to incorporate certain imperative features while designing and building pedestrian overpass. Correspondingly, the proposed pedestrian overpass should have ramps on both the sides to aid individuals with disabilities along with difficulties in mobility. Lighting is another important feature to be incorporated in the proposed pedestrian overpass. Proper lighting facilities will make it convenient for pedestrians to walk easily particularly during the nighttime and will also reduce the chances of anti-social activities such as snatching. The proposed pedestrian overpass should be properly fenced and should be connected with walkway in order to reduce any unsafe crossing (Burke, “Randall Road Pedestrian Crossing Feasibility Study”). The goals of the proposed pedestrian overpass are to provide safe and effective pedestrian facilities where different groups of population are able to access the facilities with minimum level of risks. In order to implement the proposed solution of building a pedestrian overpass, it is important to follow certain set of procedures or sequential steps for accomplishing the best outcome after the successful completion of the proposed pedestrian overpass. The implementation of the proposed solution should begin with identifying and selecting appropriate location for building a pedestrian overpass. Selection of location should be made based on certain categories such as selecting location for overpass that generally has a past history of high-risk or is accident prone. The second step in the implementation of the proposed solution of building a pedestrian overpass should seek firm commitment from different agencies. Involvement of public and political bodies along with the availability of requisite resources to carry out the proposed solution is extremely crucial for the successful outcome (Jacobs Engineering, “Pedestrian Bridge Feasibility Report”). The third step should incorporate issues pertaining to site design. The agency involved in building of the proposed pedestrian overpass should place importance on the land use as well and must reveal firm commitment to work with appropriate parties for implementing other necessary measures. Selection of appropriate parties is extremely crucial for attaining the goals to be met after the successful completion of the proposed pedestrian overpass. Next step should involve framing necessary strategies that fit most with the implementation plan. The last step in the implementation of the proposed solution should incorporate designing and selecting appropriate evaluation tools and techniques that would facilitate in effective evaluation of the output derived from the proposed solution. It is expected that the successful completion of the proposed pedestrian overpass will provide huge benefits. It is anticipated that the new pedestrian overpass will enable safer crossing for senior citizens, young children, residents along with local shoppers. Besides, it is also expected that the new pedestrian overpass will improve flow of traffic on the busy street particularly through lessening the traffic stopping time resulting from ‘signalized pedestrian crossing’. More importantly, pedestrians having disability will have considerable benefit in the form of safe crossing. Besides, delays faced by pedestrians due to traffic congestion are expected to reduce to a considerable extent. It can be argued that the proposed solution of building pedestrian overpass is highly feasible, as it meets all the requirements necessary for attaining high level of pedestrian safety. The features of the proposed pedestrian overpass firmly justify its feasibility. Correspondingly, ramps on both sides of the overpass will make travel convenient for all pedestrians including people with impairment. Furthermore, proper fencing and connecting stairs of the proposed overpass will reduce the possibility of pedestrian crash as well as it will minimize the risk of unsafe crossing. Another important aspect of the proposed pedestrian overpass is the lighting facility. The appropriate lighting facility will make travelling safe and convenient particularly during the nighttime. Correspondingly, the proposed pedestrian overpass will provide huge benefit to all users (Roads and Maritime Services, “Heathcote Pedestrian Bridge”). Nonetheless, in order to address the issue of pedestrian safety, there also lay other alternatives such as building pedestrian underpass (tunnel). However, building underpass has considerable disadvantages as compared to building pedestrian overpass. One of the most vital disadvantages of building pedestrian underpass is associated with the requirement of costs. The cost of building underpass is often very high as compared to overpass. In addition, it is argued that the cost associated with the maintenance of underpass is relatively higher. Construction of underpass often has a significant impact on the traffic. In many instances, the construction of underpass is accompanied with changes in the pedestrian travel pattern. Above all, a large proportion of population perceives that underpass is unsafe for travelling. On the contrary, pedestrian overpass requires low cost. Overpass eliminates the conflict between motor vehicles and pedestrians. Pedestrian overpass provides easy and safe crossing by pedestrians any time (ATCS, P. L. C., “Pedestrian Crossing Study”). Thus, after analyzing alternative solution, it can be firmly asserted that building a pedestrian overpass promotes a safer pedestrian environment. CONCLUSION To recapitulate, pedestrians currently are faced with high level of risks and safety challenges while crossing streets. Hundreds of people die due to road mishap every year. It is crucial that agencies responsible for promoting pedestrian safety to design and build safe walking and crossing facilities to promote pedestrian safety. In this regard, it is proposed that building a pedestrian overpass over a busy street will render significant benefits in reducing the risk factors associated with pedestrians. However, the proposed pedestrian overpass should consider the characteristics of pedestrians. Correspondingly, the proposed pedestrian overpass should incorporate certain noble features, such as ramps, proper lighting and fencing for ensuring adequate safety and convenience of all users including senior citizens, young children and people with disabilities. It is expected that the successful completion of the proposed pedestrian overpass will provide benefits to all users. It is anticipated that the new pedestrian overpass will enable safer crossing and improve traffic flow as well. It will also enable to reduce the uncalled for accidental deaths of the pedestrians while crossing the busy street. Pedestrians’ safety has often been an overlooked aspect by the transportation authorities now-a-days wherein there is more focus on ensuring the safety of roadways and allied motor vehicles. Thus, the proposed solution of building a pedestrian overpass over a busy street can act as a path-breaking initiative to ensure overall road safety of all the individuals. Works Cited “Pedestrian Crossing Study.” ATCS, P. L. C. 2008. Web. 08 Jul. 2014. Burke, Christopher B. Randall Road Pedestrian Crossing Feasibility Study. 2009. Web. 08 Jul. 2014. “Pedestrian Bridge Feasibility Report.” Jacobs Engineering. 2010. Web. 08 Jul. 2014. Rodriguez, Jarice, Juan C. Medina, Rahim F. Benekohal, Rita Black, and Ming-Heng Wang. Pedestrian Safety on Campus Crosswalks in Big Ten Universities. 2007. Web. 08 Jul. 2014. “Heathcote Pedestrian Bridge.” Roads and Maritime Services. 2012. Web. 08 Jul. 2014. Zegeer, Charles V., Laura Sandt and Margaret Scully. How to Develop a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan. 2009. Web. 08 Jul. 2014. Read More