As I round up the piece on the naked road, let me share this story with you. It is about Samuel Ketusa who lived with his beautiful wife and two adorable children at Aladinma Housing Estate in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
He had everything, or almost everything working for him: a well paid job, three-bedroom apartment and some savings in his account for the proverbial rainy day. He also had been able to buy good cars for himself and his wife. His children were in one of the best private primary schools in Owerri.
One day, on his way back from the office, his wife called him to help her buy corned beef for dinner.  Parking his car on the opposite side of the supermarket, he began to cross the road. He never made it to the other side. A Peugeot 307 which seemed to have raced out from nowhere, rammed into him, sending him flying into the air and landing some meters away on the other side of the road.  He was dead before the horrified crowd could get to him.
Bebe Ofuru used to sell food items in the market place. She was struggling to complement her husband’s income as a security man at a construction company in Apapa. Most mornings, her selling endeavour commenced on the road, where she hawked sachet water and puff puff to motorists and their passengers, before proceeding to her corner in the market. One fateful morning, Bebe was just rounding off her road side hawking, when a motorbike broke free from the line-up of vehicles in the traffic hold-up, and in an attempt to beat the queue, crashed into her as she was finishing up a transaction with a vehicle occupant.  Nobody could explain what happened, but Bebe ended up paralysed from the waist down.
Bebe and Samuel had one thing in common: they were both pedestrians. Pedestrians face the greatest danger on the road. And they form the largest category of road users. They cut across all levels and all socio-economic strata of every society globally. The need to avert the daily risks faced by these categories of road users formed the thrust of the 2013 United Nations Global Road Safety Week with the theme “Pedestrian Safety”, which held from 6-12 April, 2013. The aim was to improve global road safety as part of UN resolution. According to the World Health Organisation, for too long, road safety has been viewed through the lens of motorists, ignoring the needs of pedestrians and cyclists. The Global Road Safety Week drew attention to the urgent need for better protection of pedestrians worldwide, generate action on the measures needed to do so and contribute towards achieving the goal of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 to save 5 million lives.
Some of the actions that can be taken by countries to improve pedestrian safety as recommended by the United Nations include: raising awareness of existing traffic laws on speeding, drinking and driving; increasing enforcement of the above traffic laws; improving lighting around facilities used by pedestrians; removing objects from streets which block facilities used by pedestrians; improving the safety of routes to and from schools; encouraging the use of reflective materials by pedestrians.
On a long term basis, the following should also be considered: installing and/or up-grading sidewalks, crosswalks, raised medians, road signs and signals; lowering vehicle speed limits and introducing speed calming devices; developing and enforcing new and existing traffic laws on speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, distracted driving and walking, and pedestrian right of way; restricting and diverting vehicles from pedestrian zones; establishing and ensuring vehicle safety standards which protect pedestrians; providing education and training to all road users and the public generally.
Most of these recommended interventions are lacking in most parts of the country. However, in the case of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the on-going construction of about 6 pedestrian bridges along strategic locations such as the airport road, Kubwa road and the Municipal under the auspices of the World Bank Safe Corridor Project and similar initiatives in Lagos and few other states, are strong indicators that things are gradually looking up in this direction even though there is still more needed to be done. Pedestrians constitute a major group at risk of death, injury and disability on the road.

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