Officials urge pedestrian bridges to end Al Ittihad Street's death trap

Al Ittihad Street is fast turning into a danger zone. The road that links Dubai and Sharjah claims more lives and injures more people than any other area in the UAE.

If pedestrians are to be blamed, then officials are equally responsible for the rising toll because the street lacks a pedestrian crossing or a bridge. As a result most accidents occur while people take a chance and run across the wide road to save time.

Several people have complained about the risk they take to get to the other side. It is not easy to judge the speed of vehicles zipping past on the four lanes. This means people wait for a long time before they muster courage and run past.

According to Sharjah Police statistics, there were 45 accidents which resulted in seven deaths and four critical injuries and about 36 moderate cases in the recent past.

Col. Abdullah Sultan, Director, Public Relations and Media, Sharjah Police, confirmed that this road witnesses a lot of run-over accidents caused while people cross the road.

Similar mishaps occur in areas such as Al Nahda near Sahara Mall and near Al Jazeera and Cooperative Society because there are not enough tunnels or bridges for pedestrians to cross over.

Colonel Sultan urged officials not to wait for budgets to construct bridges and tunnels in these places.

However, Khawla Al Noman, former Director of Sharjah Department of Public Works said the Sharjah Executive Council had discussed the matter with the concerned authorities in the emirate earlier.

She added that once the bridges are up violators must be penalised, and called upon concerned departments to hasten and give priority to such projects.

Dr. Mohammed Al Sahi, former Chairman of Sharjah Facilities Ddepartment,  SEC, called all SEC members and advisory boards to cater to peoples' needs.
 

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