Suburban
FAILURE by motorists to stop at designated pedestrian crossings on roads in Ward 18 is exposing road users particularly pedestrians who include school children to the dangers of being knocked down by reckless drivers.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
Residents of Ward 18 which covers Borrowdale, Borrowdale Brooke, Greystone Park, Glen Lorne, Helensvale, Philadelphia, Colne Valley and Hogerty Hill among other suburbs, say the pedestrian crossings were no longer safe for pedestrians to use as motorists brazenly do not give way even to school children. Some of the pedestrian crossings are no longer visible.
According to the residents, grave concern was about the pedestrian crossing at Greystone Park Primary School which they said was no longer safe for pupils as motorists do not pay regard to people crossing the road to and from the school.
A former teacher and resident who asked to remain anonymous first raised the issue in the community groups, stating how dangerous the area is. She said some of the road markings were no longer visible.
“The pedestrian crossing by Greystone Park Junior School is highly dangerous. Not one car stops there at any time of the day. And I am not surprised because not only are the lines on the road unpainted, if you are turning from Leamington, you will probably get a car up your back if you do stop. Lucky Zimbabwean children have to be so resilient from a young age, they are streetwise,” she said.
Commenting on the issue the Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRA) committee member, Mrs Pat Townsend said she was surprised that school pedestrian crossings are not the City of Harare’s priority as it is now left to the school to fund-raise and make the pedestrian crossing lines visible.
“One would think school pedestrian crossings would be a priority for the City of Harare (CoH), sadly it’s not the case. When I asked CoH how much paint was needed to paint the pedestrian crossing at Helensvale they said 40 litres, which is a lot of paint. After raising money to buy the paint for the intersections at Crowhill Road and Harare Drive, we didn’t have enough left over to manage the pedestrian crossing, as it had to be five-metre long strips across the width of the road,” she said.
“It would be up to the school to raise the money; I’m sure parents would be happy to put money towards this if their children use it. They would then need to have an employee stand there with a reflective vest to assist the children to cross the road and ensure vehicles using that road stop,” said Mrs Townsend.
Other residents also said there are many other dangerous pedestrian crossings on school roads across Harare which are not being maintained by the City of Harare putting the lives of school children, staff and parents at risk in the process.
They urged the schools to come up with fundraising activities to fix these pedestrian crossings and safeguard the lives of the students and communities at the concerned schools.
