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.

KEYWORDS:

• Footbridges
• pedestrians’ safety
• vulnerable road users
• pedestrians’ behavior
• speeding vehicles
• pedestrians’ fatality

Introduction

Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users all over the world. The proportion of pedestrians among road crash casualties is highest in developing countries compared to the advanced countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), pedestrian fatalities constitute about 23% of all road deaths in the world but 40% of road fatalities in Africa (WHO, 2018, p. 11). In fact, over the past decade, pedestrian fatalities constitute about 40% of all road user deaths in Ghana (Building & Road Research Institute, 2021).

Haddon, one of the pioneers of injury epidemiology indicated that environmental modification is key to traffic crash prevention (Haddon, 1973). He enumerates the preventive strategies in what he calls countermeasures of injury prevention. According to Haddon, the fifth preventive strategy for road injuries is to separate road users in time and space. Separating in space for pedestrians’ safety includes sidewalks, footbridges and bypasses (removal of vehicles and their pathways from communities). Haddon’s conceptual model has shaped the sphere of injury prevention especially road safety. In particular, extant literature have recommended the integration of requisite infrastructure such as sidewalks and footbridges into road construction to improve pedestrian safety in Ghana (Damsere Derry et al., 2010, 2017). This is because the main causes of pedestrian injuries in Ghana and many developing economies include excessive speeding (Damsere Derry et al., 2008, 2010), exposure (depending on walking as a mode of transport and increasing motorization) and general lack of pedestrians’ infrastructure (Damsere Derry et al., 2017).

Although pedestrian infrastructure are generally lacking in Ghana, the Madina-Adenta stretch of the National Route 4 (N4) is an exception. This road stretch which was recently retrofitted is an epitome of a best practice of highway engineering through built-up areas. The highway is a 10 to 12 multilane road which beautifully integrates pedestrian footbridges and sidewalks into its construction. Completion and opening of the road to traffic was done stepwise. Therefore, when the road was opened to traffic while the footbridges were not completed, there was a public outcry demanding for the immediate completion of these facilities due to the rampant pedestrian collisions on the multilane road. Violent demonstrations erupted in this community to demand for the completion of the footbridges (Citi Newsroom, 2019; Obeng Bediako, 2021). Nonetheless, upon completion, only a few pedestrians have been patronizing the footbridges (Annang, 2019; Asabea Akonnor, 2019; Ntim Adomaa, 2021). This situation stimulated the deployment of police and wire-meshed fencing of the highways to force pedestrians to use the footbridges (Donkor, 2022; Ntim Adomaa, 2021; Obeng Bediako, 2021). To the best of our knowledge, limited research has been carried out to evaluate the impact of these countermeasures on pedestrian behavior and safety on this road section.

Three main objectives were investigated in this research. Firstly, we sought to identify the lapses on the footbridges and their effects on pedestrian crossing behavior within the vicinity of the facilities. Secondly, the research sought to understand and explore the reasons why pedestrians do not use the footbridges. The third objective of this research was to evaluate the road safety impact of the footbridges on pedestrian injury frequencies and severity.

Methodology

The research was conducted at the Madina-Adenta portion of the National Route 4 (N4). This road stretches for 4.7 km and traverses the community on a north-south axis. Characteristically, the road is a multi-laned dual carriageway with each half consisting of three to four lane carriageways and two service lanes. Therefore, crossing this highway from east to west, requires crossing 10 to 12 lanes depending on location. There is a predominantly concrete median with intermittent openings and metallic crash barriers. Currently, wire-meshed fencing of the highway to prevent pedestrians from crossing anyhow at grade on the roadway is in progress. But during the data collection period (June 2022), the fencing was only half-way completed.

Naturalistic observations were conducted on the road section between January and June 2022. A-one-day morning and afternoon peak-hours (6:00 am to 9:00 am and 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm) pedestrian counting was conducted at the footbridges and 50 m upstream and downstream of the bridges to find out about the proportion of pedestrians patronizing and jaywalking around the road sections. Also, two short videos of 10 min long were recorded at the access points of each side of the Zongo Junction footbridge. The videos were analyzed to find out which access types are preferred when both the ramps and stairs are provided.

Six-year crash statistics for the road section: 3 years before (2015 to 2017) and 3 years after (2018 to 2020) the construction of the footbridges were analyzed to find out about the differences in fatality and injury rates during the two-time spans. The two-time spans of 3 years each were chosen because at the time of analysis, crash data were available for only 3-years ‘after period’. Therefore, to get an equal timeframe for comparison, a three-year before crash data were used. The crash database is based on police reports on road crash injuries. Each year, the BRRI collect and collate road crash injuries for the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) of Ghana. These data are stored in the Microcomputer Accident Analysis Package (MAAP) software developed by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). A standard form also developed by TRL is used to extract accident circumstances data from the police files and transferred onto the MAAP software for analyses. Data stored in the software can be queried and analyzed in various formats including; cross-tabulations, kilometer analyses and stick diagram analyses. A fatal casualty is one in which death occurred within a thirty-day period after the crash. Hospitalized casualty injuries on the other hand are those in which the road crash victims are hospitalized for at least a 24-h period while minor injuries are those in which the crash victims were treated and discharged for slight injuries without spending a night in the hospital after a road crash. Just like many crash databases, there are some inherent underreporting associated with the Ghana’s crash database. According to research, underreporting levels are 0% for fatal crashes, 8% for hospitalized injuries and 57% for property damaged crashes (Salifu & Ackaah, 2012).

Lastly, two focus group discussions were conducted to ascertain pedestrians’ behavior such as hawking and jaywalking around the footbridges. The focus groups took place at the La-Nkwantanan-Madina Municipal Assembly. Each meeting session lasted for 60 min and consisted of 10 participants from different backgrounds. Some of the participants were police, fire service, market women, teachers, drivers and assembly men.

Results

Pedestrian crossing behavior and lapses in the construction of the footbridges were observed and reported herein.

Observation of pedestrian behavior around the foot bridges

The observations made at the footbridges revealed that many pedestrians are still crossing the highway at unapproved portions thereby endangering their lives.

It was observed that fencing the highway with wire-meshed devices has commenced at various locations. The idea of the barricade is to fence the highway and prevent pedestrians from crossing anyhow around the pedestrian overpasses. Figure 1 shows how pedestrians use the end of the wire-meshed fence to cross the road at unapproved locations near the footbridges. Note that the red arrow in Figure 1a marks the end of the wire-meshed fence. The jaywalkers cross the roads stepwise by first sitting on the concrete median of the near side, observe if approaching vehicles are speeding or further away and run or walk quickly to cross to the far side of the carriageways. Figure 1a-d illustrates the various phases of pedestrians’ actions at this unproved crossing point.

Figure 1. Sequence of pedestrians jaywalking at the Madina-Adenta Highway.

Unlike earlier reports which indicated that the number of persons waiting to cross the road at signalized intersections has an effect on pedestrian crossing behavior particularly their speeds (Bendak et al., 2021), our observations revealed that pedestrians utilized the safety gaps in the oncoming traffic to make their crossing decisions. Typically, in a group attempting to cross the road, some may run, walk fast or slowly depending on their own hazard perceptions. Individuals crossing decisions are therefore independent of the other pedestrians who are also trying to cross.

Additionally, though the highway fencing is ongoing, there was evidence of unscrupulous people vandalizing portions of this barricade. When nearby shop owners were asked why people are destroying the fence, they cited two reasons; first to create unapproved paths and second to steal the metals for scraps and other purposes.

Lapses in construction of the footbridges and their impact on pedestrian movements

The main lapses observed at the precincts of the footbridges include incompleteness of the devices, discontinuity of sidewalks linking the footbridges, and the existing of redundant crosswalk markings and signs.

Apart from the Zongo Junction footbridge which has three entry points namely: only ramp, only stairways; and stairways and ramp, all the other footbridges had only ramps. Though provisions for stairs at each footbridge were earmarked, they were not completed at the time of our observations. Figure 2 illustrates the uncompleted stairs part of one of the footbridges. Figure 2(a,b) are the top and ground views respectively of an uncompleted arm of one of the footbridges. Similarly, sidewalks at the feet of the overpasses were generally not sealed. Due to this discontinuity, pedestrians landing from the footbridges encounter discomfort in linking to the sidewalks.

Figure 2. Uncompleted Stairs of a footbridge in Madina-Adenta Highway.

Another major lapse observed at the vicinities of the footbridges were redundant zebra crossing signs and markings. As shown in Figure 3, these markings predated the construction of the footbridges (Note that the red arrows show marked crosswalks which need to be erased). Apparently, these markings and signs are creating wrong impressions on pedestrian crossing behavior. These places were the locations hitherto designated for pedestrians’ crossing prior to the bridge construction. As it were, road users have been preconditioned to cross the highway at grade using these locations. Consequently, some pedestrians still think that these crosswalks are alternatives to the overpasses thereby predisposing them to cross at grade and consequently, get knocked down.

Figure 3. Redundant pedestrian crosswalks under a footbridge at the Madina- Adenta Highway.

A video observation of pedestrians’ preference for footbridge stairways and ramps accesses

A snapshot video analysis obtained from a Phantom-4 Advanced Drone showing the Zongo Junction footbridge where both stairs and ramps are present indicates that pedestrians prefer using the stairways to the ramps because the latter are comparably shorter. A 95:5 percent ratio was obtained for stairway usage versus ramp usage indicating a high preference for the stairs. It is therefore unfair to leave the stair portion uncompleted since many pedestrians will generally prefer using these accesses.

Challenges and reasons why pedestrians do not patronize footbridges

The focus group component of the research was used to complement and validate findings from the naturalistic observation carried out at the footbridges. This component sought to understand why some pedestrians do not patronize the facilities and how patronage of the facilities could be improved. Generally, participants were of the view that crossing the roadway is a daily routine for residents of Madina-Adenta. Discussants were of the view that an average adult will typically cross the highway about six times in a day. However, market women will do more crossings than the average resident. They indicated that pedestrians prefer crossing the multilane road at grade unless restricted by the police or wire-meshed fences. It is only when police or fence is present that pedestrians may patronize the footbridges. The major reasons why pedestrians do not use these footbridges are discussed below.

Firstly, inconvenience is a major determinant of pedestrians’ non-use of the footbridges. Pedestrians expressed worry about the presence of street hawkers and beggars who have covered much space of the footbridges. Apart from obstructing free movements, traders and beggars through their routine activities leave their messes on the overpasses thus rendering the facilities unattractive. It was further indicated that the footbridges are too long and windy. To pedestrians, it takes too long a time to access and cross from one side of the bridge to the other. Residents of the Madina-Adenta community have nicknamed the footbridges temple runs. A temple run is an android game which has a beginning and seems not to have any end. This makes them to prefer darting into the highway in a bit to access the other side of the community, thereby endangering their lives.

Again, the participants claim that some pedestrians fear heights and are not conversant and comfortable with walking on such new edifices. Therefore, they prefer to cross the multilane highway at grade. The people also claim that locations of bus stops are further away from the footbridges. Therefore, when they disembark from buses, it takes them too long a walk to access the footbridges.

Also, it came up in the focus group discussion that insecurity is another reason why pedestrians do not use the footbridges in the Madina-Adenta community. Pedestrians mentioned that there are frequent robberies particularly at nighttime during which thieves snatch bags and cellphones on top of the footbridges. The pedestrians said that the robbers who usually operate in multiples; at least 2 behave as if they are also patronizing the bridges and trap their unsuspecting victims in the middle of the bridges and violently take the valuable belongings of pedestrians. The fact that there are no lights on the facilities is another hindrance to pedestrians’ nonuse of the footbridges especially at nighttime. Coupled with no lights, participants also indicated that the display of billboards and advertisement banners on the footbridges obscures them and increases the insecurity of pedestrians, especially at nighttime during which only a few people are typically around.

Ways to improve footbridge usage

It was gathered from the focus group discussions that improvement on the patronage of the footbridges could be attained through road safety education for pedestrians, enforcement of jaywalking laws and enforcement of street hawking laws. It was indicated that the police and traffic wardens have been deployed to places such as the Zongo Junction and strategic locations where jaywalking is predominant. This has significantly improved on patronage of the footbridge. Apparently, pedestrians patronize the footbridges when the traffic law enforcers are present but revert to jaywalking when they are not present.

Characteristics of the footbridges

As shown in Table 1, the mean height of the bridges is 5 meters (m) while the mean distance between the footbridges is 620 m (distances) (NB: measurement started from the West African Senior High School (WASS) footbridge).

Table 1. Characteristics of footbridges along Madina-Adenta highway.

Name of Footbridge	Travel distance	Height	Distances	Walking time
Atomic Junction Footbridge	Ramp 325 m	5 m	700 m	5:11
Zongo Junction Footbridge	Ramp 349 m	5 m	580 m	4:38
	Stairs 108 m			2:17
	Ramp & Stairs 175 m			3:27
REDCO Footbridge	Ramp 297 m	5 m	900 m	4:36
Assemblies Footbridge	Ramp 352 m	5 m	710 m	4:30
SDA Footbridge	Ramp 343 m	5 m	834 m	5:10
WASS Footbridge	Ramp 353 m	5 m		4:47

This implies that in the vicinity of the bridges, a radius of 310 m travelling distance is required to access a footbridge. It is however important to stress that pedestrians do not necessarily move as the crow flies. The footbridges have serpentine switchbacks on both sides of the highway which tend to more than quadruple the crossing distances (walking time) relative to grade crossing. Depending on where a pedestrian will pass to cross, the travel distance from one side of the footbridge to the other side range between 108 m and 350 m long.

On the average, it takes about 5 min walking time to cross the footbridges from one side to the other. Generally, it takes relatively shorter time (a little over 2 min (2:17)) to cross the footbridge using the stairways compared to about 5 min when using the ramps. Unfortunately, only the footbridge at Zongo Junction has the stairs component to complement the ramps thereby depriving pedestrians of any alternative.

As shown in Table 2, 58419 pedestrians were observed in the vicinity of the Madina-Adenta footbridges. Among these, 56% were walking along the road, 38% were crossing using the bridges and 14% were jaywalking. Among all the pedestrians who crossed the road, 90% used the footbridges while 10% jaywalked. This high level of compliance can be explained by the fact that there were heavy police enforcement at strategic locations and endings of uncompleted wire-meshed fencing of the highway where pedestrians would have jaywalked. Generally, females were more likely to cross using the footbridges compared with their male counterparts: 54% versus 46%, respectively (n = 21,963). On the contrary, among all pedestrians who were jaywalking (n = 3,663), 66% were males compared to 34% being females. See Table 2 for details.

Table 2. Pedestrians crossing behavior at the footbridges.

Location	Pedestrians Actions	Male	Female	Total	% Jaywalking
Atomic Junction	On footbridge	247	154	401	66.4
	Walking along	2641	1962	4603
	Jaywalking	429	364	793
Zongo Junction	On footbridge	5431	5271	10702	11.9
	Walking along	5901	3224	9125
	Jaywalking	927	346	1273
REDCO	On footbridge	1908	4051	5959	8.4
	Walking along	5082	4742	9824
	Jaywalking	355	189	544
Assemblies	On footbridge	200	207	407	17
	Walking along	1354	576	1930
	Jaywalking	48	34	82
WASS	On footbridge	1649	1647	3296	13.7
	Walking along	2499	1855	4354
	Jaywalking	394	129	523
SDA	On footbridge	654	544	1198	12.4
	Walking along	1725	1215	2940
	Jaywalking	121	48	169
Total	On footbridge	10089	11874	21963	14.3
	Walking along	19219	13574	32793
	Jaywalking	2412	1251	3663

Impact of the footbridges on pedestrians’ safety

In order to illustrate the magnitude of road crash fatalities and serious injuries on this section of the road and how to critically assess the safety performance of the footbridges, the crash statistics for the Madina-Adenta highway were analyzed. Casualty injury severities were stratified into three levels namely; fatal, hospitalized (serious) injuries and minor injuries as shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Distribution of traffic crash fatalities by pedestrians’ action at Madina-Adenta.

Pedestrian action	Casualty Injury			Total
	Fatal	Hospitalised	Injury
Crossing Road	62	63	44	169
Walking Along Road	3	24	15	42
Walking along Edge	0	1	4	5
Other	2	7	10	19
Total	67	95	73	235

In total, between 2015 and 2020, there were 235 pedestrian injury casualties at Madina-Adenta stretch of the N4, a distance of 4.7 km. Among these, 29% (n = 67) were fatal, 40% (n = 95) resulted in at least 24-h hospitalization and 31% (n = 73) resulted in minor injuries. Ninety-three percent (93%) of all death occurred while the pedestrians were trying to cross the highway indicating that crossing the road is inimical to pedestrian safety.

As shown in Table 4, the proportion of pedestrians who died between 2015 and 2017 (before) 39% (n = 49) was significantly higher than the proportion of pedestrians who died 17% (n = 18) between 2018 and 2020 (after the footbridge construction) p = 0.0003. Nonetheless, the magnitude of casualties and proportion of pedestrians who died while crossing the road after the bridge construction leaves much to be desired. For, between 2018 and 2020 era during which the footbridges were available, 64% (n = 67) of all pedestrian injuries occurred among victims crossing the road. Similarly, 64% (n = 37) and 89% (n = 18) of hospitalized and fatal injuries respectively occurred when pedestrians were crossing the highway.

Table 4. Distribution of casualty injury severity by pedestrians’ action at Madina-Adenta.

Before (2015–2017)					After (2018–2020)
Pedestrian Action	Casualty Injury			Total	Casualty Injury			Total
	Fatal	Hospitalised	Injury		Fatal	Hospitalised	Injury
Crossing Road	46	26	30	102	16	37	14	67
Walking Along Road	1	8	8	17	2	16	7	25
Walking along edge	0	1	3	4	0	0	1	1
Other	2	2	3	7	0	5	7	12
Total	49	37	44	130	18	58	29	105

Discussions

It is important to indicate that footbridges are a fairly new infrastructure in Ghana and that their appropriate use should be properly guided. From the naturalistic observations, it was noted that some of the pedestrian crossing signs and crosswalk markings within 50 m radius of the footbridges are still in place. Therefore, pedestrians who have been conditioned to crossing at these locations still think that the act of crossing at the hitherto crosswalks are still allowed and that using the footbridges is merely an alternative. The redundant crosswalks have become scenes of pedestrian crashes (Asabea Akonnor, 2019). It is therefore recommended that the redundant crosswalk markings should be defaced and the pedestrian crossings signs removed as soon as possible to correct this wrong impression.

This research has demonstrated that provision of the crossing facilities alone does not automatically guarantee ease of crossing and patronage of footbridges. It is an established fact that some crossing facilities are disliked by pedestrians. This behavior engenders a high level of illegal crossing of busy highways (Anciaes & Jones, 2018; Demiroz et al., 2015; Obeng-Atuah et al., 2017; Sinclair & Zuidgeest, 2016). The current study established that 14% of pedestrians crossing the highway were jaywalking. This finding compares better to the findings by Ojo et al. who established a thirty-one percent non-use of the footbridges (Ojo et al., 2022). It is important to stress however that the relatively high level of footbridge patronage in the current studies was attained against the backdrop of highway fencing and presence of the police at strategic locations. Nonetheless, destruction of road fencing is a commonplace in Ghana (Donkor, 2022), meaning that the fencing intervention being put in place is an ephemeral solution. The current study however corroborates earlier findings that male pedestrians were more likely to jaywalk than their female counterparts (Ojo et al., 2022). In order to improve patronage, it is important to improve pedestrians’ behavior through road safety education.

It was also established in the studies that the presence of hawkers and beggars on the footbridges is a reason for nonuse of the footbridges. This concern is similar to findings by Pasha et al. (2015) and Banerjee et al. (2020) who indicated in their research that trading and begging activities narrow stair widths and for that matter the effective walkway widths and increase mobility friction on footbridges (Banerjee et al., 2020; Pasha et al., 2015).

Some major lapses observed at the footbridges include incomplete portions, especially, the stairways portions and lack of lights on the facilities. These lapses negatively affect pedestrians’ security, comfort and behavior. For instance, providing both stairs and ramps will provide pedestrians with clear choices of crossing options. This arrangement is particularly essential given the fact that the vast majority of pedestrians typically prefer using the stairways relative to the ramps wherever the two are present. Also, the sidewalks adjoining the bridges ought to be completed to form a complete network to ease walking. Poor lighting situation also increases the level of insecurity on the footbridges because pedestrians indicated that robbery incidents are high on the facilities at nighttime. Security over footbridges has also been a major factor for footbridge nonuse in many jurisdictions (Arellana et al., 2022; Hasan et al., 2020). Therefore, improving the luminous intensity on the facilities is imperative to improve pedestrians’ security at nighttime and for that matter increase their patronage of the devices. It will also be beneficial if police personnel are deployed to beef-up the security on these structures. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitoring particularly at nighttime will facilitate prompt and real-time responses to security incidence on the overpasses.

While it is legitimate for pedestrians to express concerns about the activities of hawkers on the bridge, poor lighting, fear of heights, lengths of the overpasses and security issues as the reasons for nonuse, safety should be the overriding factor to influence pedestrians’ decision to patronize the footbridges. The number of minutes it takes an individual to access and cross the footbridges safely should be preferred to jaywalking across this multilane-busy highway. Crossing this highway at grade often leads to needless crashes, the consequence of which may be serious injuries or deaths. It is important to indicate that pedestrian safety has improved significantly since the completion of the footbridges. The current infrastructure provided for pedestrians in the study area should be able to minimize pedestrian crashes to the barest minimum if not completely eradicated. Pedestrian crossing behavior at the precincts of the footbridges leaves much to be desired. In spite of the deployment of police at strategic crossing and the fact that highway fencing is ongoing, some pedestrians still cross the multilane-busy highway at grade.

Conclusion

Over the period of observation, patronage of the footbridges has somewhat improved. Nonetheless, this level of patronage was achieved through coercion and enforcement. For, police and highway fencing have been deployed at strategic locations to achieve this level of compliance. Consequently, pedestrians’ safety has significantly improved in the after period during which these interventions were deployed. The massive capital-intensive project built on this section of the highway should be able to ameliorate pedestrians’ injuries to a much more appreciable minimum than the current level. Road safety education and enforcement should be embarked upon to improve pedestrian’ patronage and ensure their safety on the footbridges. In spite of all the reservations enumerated, pedestrians should be made to appreciate that the overpasses are important road safety infrastructure whose use cannot be compromised. This study has established that the provision of engineering countermeasures (footbridges) alone will not necessarily achieve the desired level of footbridge patronage and pedestrians’ injury prevention. Pedestrians’ education and enforcement should be deployed to bolster patronage and improve pedestrians’ safety. To achieve this target, pedestrians’ concerns including their demand for: the provision of lights, improving security, taking away street hawkers from the bridges and providing stairways should be taken into consideration in promoting future footbridge use and construction.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.