Road safety benefits and challenges associated with pedestrian footbridge patronage along the Madina-Adenta highway

Abstract

Pedestrian fatalities constitute a fourth of all road deaths in Ghana. Footbridges are recent countermeasures deployed to improve pedestrians’ safety in Ghana. The main objectives of the research were to: (i) identify the lapses on the footbridges and their effects on pedestrian crossing behavior in the vicinity of the edifices, (ii) explore the reasons why pedestrians do not use the footbridges and, (iii) evaluate the road safety impact of the footbridges on pedestrian safety. Naturalistic observations and peak-hour pedestrian counts on the footbridges and within the vicinities of the facilities were carried out. Focus group discussions were also conducted to understand pedestrian crossing and walking behavior at the footbridges. Lastly, pedestrian casualties were analyzed for 3 years before and after the bridge construction. There were 165 pedestrian casualties along the highway section. Of these, 29% were fatal while 40% of the victims were hospitalized for at least 24-hours. Many pedestrians still cross the multilane-highway at grade. The main reasons for non-use of the bridges include heights, lengths, security, poor illumination and hawking. Pedestrian injuries have significantly declined during the after period compared with the before period. Findings have implications for road safety education and siting of future footbridges.