Fatal hit-and-run sparks calls for more people to use pedestrian crossing

After the death of 11-year-old Duryan McKenzie in yesterday's hit-and-run, Dr Lucien Jones, vice chairman of the National Road Safety Council, is urging pedestrians to use the designated crosswalks on the Mandela Highway.

According to reports, the child came off a bus and was heading home from school when he was hit by a mini van.

The driver did not stop at the scene, but was apprehended by the police in another area.

"All pedestrians on the Mandela Highway have to be extremely careful, and use only the overhead bridge to cross the road. To try and cross that road ten yards away is courting disaster and death and injury," said Jones.

Jones noted that of the 171 people who have been killed in road accidents this year, 38 were pedestrians.

"It's an alarming bit of data because the vulnerable road users are the ones who are dying mostly on our roads. The death of a child on the Mandela Highway yesterday brings into very sharp focus the importance of protecting our pedestrians from mayhem and chaos on the roads," he said.

He described the Mandela Highway as a "very dangerous place", with a speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour, however, he said motorists generally exceed this limit.

He stated that once motorists are driving over 30 kilometres per hour the likelihood of a pedestrian surviving a collision drops dramatically.

Jones reiterated calls for motorists to reduce their speed, especially when driving in built up areas.

"The world health organisation has mandated all countries to ensure that especially in built up areas, the speed limit does not exceed 30 km per hour...so the slow down or control of speeding is the number one factor," he said.

He also emphasised the importance of providing adequate pedestrian facilities, while urging pedestrians to take responsibility for their own safety.

"The pedestrian crossings, the sidewalks, the markings, the supervision of children around schools...encouraging children to look right, look left, and look right again," he said.

He added: "Of course we have to make sure that just as in the case of driving, pedestrians are not driving alcohol and trying the roads, not using marijuana and trying to cross the road, not getting distracted with use of cellphones and trying to cross the roads."

- Sashana Small

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