I do not know who designed the streets of Jeddah but whoever did, actually did not believe that pedestrians have the right to walk on the sides of streets. The concept of rights to walk freely on the street sidewalk does not exist in the mind of many people — mostly drivers who prefer to zip on at high speed at every nook and corner without even giving fellow motorists a consideration. In a scenario that paints a near dominance of self in driving with non-adherence to rules and regulations in most parts of the city, how can there be a consideration by a driver to pedestrian? It will surely be missing. It is an irony that the visionaries of street planning must have not considered setting out some space for those who need to or prefer to walk on the street sidewalks. We all have to admit this — that our streets were never designed for pedestrians. That's why I call it ironic because, one of the basic rights is to walk on the streets without the fear of being run over by an erring motorist. I, like those who need to take to the streets, am taking a great risk each time I decide to walk on or cross a street or just use the sidewalk. I, like others, have to be careful from cars coming from behind and from fast-driving motorists. If I decide to walk on the sidewalk, where is the sidewalk? Is it designed to be used? Sidewalks are occasionally broken or there are many holes in them — some of these problems are manmade and some are due to lack of maintenance. The issue of crossing the streets is just one of the many and would need another column. But some foolhardy people try to beat speeding cars on the main streets for lack of footbridges or out of plain laziness to climb them, if there are any nearby, while others just take the pleasure in stopping the cars on the side streets with repeated crossings, thus winding down the motorists. There are few places where sidewalks are designed for pedestrians to walk and exercise. If a person decides to walk on the street, he will have to risk his life from being hit by a car. Where there are sidewalks, people cannot use them because they are either broken, have holes, as earlier stated, or for any other reasons. We have not developed the culture of pedestrians using sidewalks because in the first place our sidewalks are not designed for pedestrians to use. Any person driving in a neighborhood will notice people walking on the streets, even if there are sidewalks. On some occasions, pedestrians have to weave and bob through obstacles placed on the sidewalks by street hawkers or existing garbage bins so that most people prefer to risk facing the dangers on the streets than take the tortuous routes they need to traverse on a sidewalk. As the culture of pedestrians taking the sidewalks does not exist, drivers have to be careful because they share the roads with people, including children. In many cases, there are people who use or cross the street without thinking. I saw a man trying to cross Al-Rawdah Street in Al-Rawdah district. The man was standing on the divider of the street after crossing part of the way. As usual, he did not cross from the zebra crossing designed for pedestrians. While waiting for the traffic to thin out from the other side of the road so he could cross, an impatient driver decided to beat the traffic light, hooted and crossed over the divider to the other side of the road. The driver almost hit the pedestrian waiting on the divider. This disturbing scenario is very normal in the streets of Jeddah and it happens every day. This kind of driver is among thousands of motorists who believe that they can do whatever they want when they are behind the wheel because pedestrians have no rights to walk on the streets. One funny thing is that the majority of our motorists do not believe that pedestrians have the right to use the streets but when they themselves are walking they cry for pedestrian rights on the streets. In some cases, they show their fist in fury to the motorists who zigzag their way toward them. Sometimes I wonder about what formula other countries use to force their people to respect the rights of pedestrians. Although there is no point in comparing ourselves to people in other countries, but for the sake of making a point, let me do it here. In Dubai, I saw a sign placed by the traffic department in the city. The sign read that anyone attempting to cross the road from any place other than the designated area would be fined AED200. Why can't this be applied in our city? We are so used to violating rules that when we see a sign like this we would, I believe, start laughing while some would complain. Crossing the roads in Saudi Arabia is a suicide mission. A person will have to be on high alert and grab his thobe by the mouth and should turn like Carl Lewis at any second. He would also need to measure the speed of the cars and gaps in between and then calculate his speed to see whether he could cross or not. It is a 50 percent chance that he might make it. The safest way for a person to cross is to beg and wave his hands with a smile to get permission to cross. This, however, should not be the case. The traffic department and municipality should work together to make our streets safer. The same way a fine has been applied on smokers inside the airports, which struck fear into the hearts of smokers, this could also be applied on violators of pedestrian rights. Enough is enough.
