A LEGAL counsel group, Imagine Law, suggested that urban development plan and road redesigning is key to achieve inclusive mobility as a means to lessen road crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists.
Imagine Law is an advocacy group which consists of lawyers with the advocacy of pushing laws for safer roads, both for pedestrians, motorists, and cyclists.
Lawyer Sophia San Luis, executive director of Imagine Law, said redesigning roads to best accommodate all sorts of road users including pedestrians and cyclists is a must in every urban community.
“Eventually, we hope we can move the conversation towards inclusive mobility. That is the aim. Our roads should be designed so you have places for pedestrians and other road users like sidewalks and bicycle lanes,” said San Luis.
According to the national data by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), almost 290 deaths or 19 percent of 1,513 recorded road crash deaths are pedestrians.
In Davao City, an anti-jaywalking ordinance was implemented again on December 1 of last year.
It was previously implemented during the early 1990’s and was dubbed as “Hapsay Dalan.”
According to City Transportation and Traffic Management Office chief Rogelio Poliquit, the reimplementation of jaywalking ordinance last year has improved the travel time of vehicles within the city and has promoted safety of pedestrians.
San Luis said Davaoenos had been complaining that pedestrian lanes are distant from each other, which does not follow the global standard of having pedestrian lanes every 150 meters.
“The proper road design should have a signal and a road sign a few meters before the pedestrian lane telling the vehicle that there is a pedestrian lane. Some countries would even introduce rumble strips before the pedestrian lanes to signal the driver to slow down,” she said adding Bonifacio Global Center (BGC) in Taguig City makes use of elevated pedestrian lanes.
She also said aside from the pedestrian lanes, what’s important is the slowing down of the vehicles to lessen the impact to the victim should a road crash occur.
“Placing pedestrian lanes is not enough. The better approach is imposing speed limits and enforcing them, designing your roads such that it accommodates all sorts of road users, not just pedestrians but also motorcycle riders,” said lawyer San Luis also recognizing Davao City’s strict implementation of 30, 40, 60 speed limits for specific areas in the city.
