We pedestrians are among the most poorly protected people in Jakarta. We are often forced to take risks -- some potentially fatal -- merely in walking down the street.
We have to walk on road shoulders because the few pedestrian walkways are poorly designed and maintained. Some have even been taken over by kiosks, used for parking or worse -- not to mention dangerous -- used by speeding motorcycles.
The absence of crosswalks and bridges, particularly along main thoroughfares, mean that some of us have to run the unnecessary risks of crossing roads with fast-moving traffic.
Not surprisingly, many of the city's traffic accidents involve pedestrians.
Data at the Jakarta Police shows that road accidents killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 130 people last week. One of those fatalities was a pedestrian who was hit by a bus while trying to cross a busway lane. Traffic accidents are the country's third largest killer after two contagious diseases.
One can attribute many factors behind the high rate of traffic accidents, including reckless drivers and careless pedestrians, as well as the poor conditions of the roads. But the lack of pedestrian facilities -- including walkways, crossing bridges, zebra crosses and traffic lights -- plays a big part.
As Jakarta built more and more roads these last three decades to accommodate the increase in cars and motorcycles, the city neglected the needs of pedestrians.
Good pedestrian facilities can only be found on the roads surrounding the National Monument (Monas) park and on Jl. Thamrin, Jl. Kebon Sirih Raya and Jl. Sudirman.
The lack of, or the poor condition of, pedestrian walkways in the city discourages people from developing walking habits, which any doctor would say is inexpensive, beneficial exercise.
During the rainy season, some of us choose to walk on the road shoulders and take risks to avoid having to thread through walkways clogged with water and mud.
The city administration seems to have neither the commitment nor the power to keep public facilities like walkways clean from dirt and inappropriate uses.
In modern cities like Singapore, London, Tokyo and New York, pedestrian facilities are designed to make walking a pleasant experience. These facilities form an integral part of their transportation systems. The pedestrian walkways, for example, are well-connected to mass rapid transit (MRT) stations to encourage their citizens to use public transportation.
We tend to agree with the growing view that cities today should be judged by how pedestrian-friendly they are. The World Bank has begun developing a method to measure the friendliness of a city in terms of its walkability. The city scores highly if it is equipped with convenient, safe, secure and accessible pedestrian facilities.
The Jakarta city administration can no longer shirk its duty to pedestrians. Good pedestrian walkways should be developed on thoroughfares to facilitate the development of walking habits, not merely to act as urban ornamentation.
Pedestrian-friendly infrastructure should be an integral part of current efforts to improve the public transportation system and encourage more people to leave their cars and motorcycles at home.
Just think of the huge savings in terms of the amount of gasoline burned, and of how much cleaner Jakarta air would be, and of how much money would be saved, from more efficient use of gasoline and lower medical costs because of less pollution.
There is no reason for the city administration to put aside the development of urban infrastructure like pedestrian facilities.
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