Pedestrian safety requires planning priority

Pedestrians are the largest category of road users in urban areas, especially in developing countries. Currently, their involvement in road traffic crashes is high. While pedestrian safety is a complex subject with no easy solution, the broad approach to a safe situation would be to avoid conflict between pedestrians and vehicles on the road. Facilities meant for pedestrian movement should be planned to achieve the above objective within reasonable cost but without unacceptable inconvenience to all the parties concerned. Pedestrian safety is no accident: it can only materialize when traffic planning is conditioned by suitable priority accorded to the specific needs of the pedestrian.