College of Urban Development and Engineering

Department of Transport Planning & Management

Course: Logistics and Freight Transportation (TPM- 7071)

Regular Masters Program 2021 2nd year 1st Semester

Concept paper
On
Pedestrians Side Walk Abusing and its Impact on Road
Traffic Accidents

Prepared By: Aklilu Tamirat - ID No. ECSU – 2101613

Submitted to: Belew Dagnew ( Asst. Professor)

Nov, 2021

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Table of Contents Pag

1. Introduction....................................................................................................................1

1.1 Objectives......................................................................................................................1

2. Definitional Frame Work.............................................................................................2

3. Historical background of the issue................................................................................3

4. International perspectives in the issue...........................................................................3

5. From the context of Ethiopia and durame town............................................................6

5.1 Duram Town..................................................................................................................6

6. Challenges associated with the issue:............................................................................6

7. Recommendations:........................................................................................................8

8. Conclusion.....................................................................................................................8

References

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1. Introduction

Transport or transportation is the movement of people and goods from one place to another. It is
a system in which passengers and goods are transported from one location to another, by
overcoming a space. The purpose of movement is to change the physical location of freight,
passengers, and other items. When we are on the road, we must always remember the importance
of maintaining a safe speed, a safe road, a safe vehicle, and a safe road user.

According to the World Health Organization, 1.25 million people are killed and up to 50 million 
are injured in road accidents every year, averaging 3,287 deaths per day. Road traffic accidents a
re becoming the leading cause of death worldwide, with 90 percent of all road fatalities occurring 
in low- and middle income countries, which account  for only 54 percent of all registered
vehicles. Traffic accidents cause not only bodily harm, loss of life, severe pain for individuals, an
d societal economic loss.

So, these problems needs to be addressed by a multi-disciplinary approach & the aim of this
concept paper is not to give details how much it is serious, but it focuses on the abusing of the
pedestrian side walk ways and its impact for Road Traffic Accident.

In most Ethiopian towns, including Addis Ababa,  pedestrians' side walking ways are abused by 
various social groups, including roadside commercial activities such as Jabana coffee, 
woodworking (furniture), various obstacles such as building materials, shoos brushing (Listro), p
otato chips, electrical poles and telecommunication apparatus, and offstreet parking, 
particularly three wheel Bajaj & motor bicycle. Although pedestrians make up the majority of
road users, but a small number of motorized transport users and vendors dominate and abuse
sidewalks. This means that pedestrian rights have been harmed, either directly or indirectly.

1.1 Objectives

The main goal of this study is to assess the common pedestrian mobility problem in Durame
(SNNP – Kembata Tembaro Zone) and to highlight the negative impact of roadside vendors and
other illegal road users, as well as how insufficient infrastructure affects pedestrian comfort and
safety. Finally, possible solutions to the problem should be suggested.

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1.2 The concept paper's overall activities

The main objectives or overall activities of this concept paper are

 to assess the negative impact of roadside vendors on pedestrians' ability to walk.

 Inadequate infrastructure has a negative impact on pedestrian safety.
 Abuse of sidewalks and its consequences in terms of accidents
 To look into the factors that contribute to pedestrian safety issues and the barriers that people
with disabilities face, to come up with logical solutions, and to make recommendations.

2. Definitional Frame Work

Key Words: Pedestrian, safety, traffic, accidents, urban , vehicles, sidewalks, road users,
mobility, behavior, & abuse, injures , transport.

Transportation is the movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another
using different Modes of transport include air, land, water, cable, pipeline, and space.
In addition, urban transportation is a mix of motorized and nonmotorized modes of transportation
. Pedestrians walking on off-road (sidewalk) and on-road (on carriage roads) are two non-
motorized modes of transportation. This concept paper focuses on poor management, the abuse o
f pedestrian walkways, and the accidents that occur as a result of these illegal activities on a glob
al, national, and local scale.

On the other hand, road traffic accidents are one of the most common causes of death and injury
around the world, with Ethiopia being one of the worst-affected countries.
As we all know, a road traffic accident is an incident that occurs on a public road or street. 

Despite the fact that our country has fewer vehicles, the incidence is higher than in other develop
ing countries. Ethiopia, as a developing African country, has seen some of the world's most dang
erous roads and has followed a determined roadstretching guiding principle for the past 15 years. 
Even though pedestrians make up the majority of vulnerable road users in Ethiopian cities, it is n
ecessary to analyze their behavior in order to define quality measures.

According to the study, our country's sidewalks are not userfriendly, and they are obstructed
in various places by vendors, utility poles, parked cars, or illegal construction materials, and cros

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swalk facilities are not visible and insufficiently provided at a logical distance. 
As a result of these illegal obstructions, pedestrians are forced to walk on the carriageway.

Pedestrian comfort is minimal, and safety concerns within the pedestrian environment are
evident in the city road segments. Pedestrian facilities and all the concerned factors should be
well provided and maintained to more effective for both encouraging people to walk and
improve pedestrian safety. It was concluded that, the most significant factors affecting the
pedestrian safety in the towns are sidewalk surface quality and environmental problems.
Pedestrian fatalities and injuries caused by traffic accidents result in enormous personal suffering 
and financial loss. According to international accident statistics, pedestrian safety has improved i
n developed countries, but the situation in developing countries remains dire. (WHO,  2009) .

3. Historical background of the issue

A pedestrian is someone who travels by foot, whether they are walking or running. Walking has
been a traditional mode of movement in modern times,  the term  usually refers
to someone walking down a street or on a sidewalk, but this was not always the case. Pedestrian 
Walkway means a pathway or a paved walkway along the side of a street, which may include stai
rs, ramps, or passageways, made of a hard, stable surface and kept clear of debris, snow, and ice t
o facilitate pedestrian movement. (From The Free Dictionary's definition of pedestrian walkway)

The key risks for pedestrians are well known. Among the well documented factors are:

 driver behavior, (including speeding, drinking and driving);

 infrastructure missing facilities (including pavements, crossings and islands);
 and vehicle design which are not forgiving to pedestrians crashed by a vehicle.

 Because pedestrians are not protected by their vehicle  most of pedestrian are injured at crossing
a street/road and  most of pedestrian crash occur by night.

4. International perspectives in the issue

Before cars were introduced on the roads in Europe, walking was the major means of
conveyance for most people. Horse-riding and horse-powered vehicles generated some accidents
and fatalities. In urban areas, traffic mixed pedestrians and other forms of non-motorized
transport which conflicted with other activities.

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In this context, we'll go over the major steps taken to improve pedestrian mobility and safety in
cities since the 1960s. It will be seen that the measures taken have primarily focused on
reducing speed and reclaiming space for pedestrians, which has necessitated defying social and
economic pressures to give full priority to individual automobile transportation, driving
freedom, and the allocation of increasing amounts of road space to motorized traffic.

Those countries like UK, Netherlands & France have adopted different approaches to road
safety management system that gives more conformability for pedestrians. Like :

† “ remedial approaches, correcting errors” and from the late 80s until now
† “ long term planning ,integrating road safety & environmental issues”.

Different countries adopted different road safety strategies to reduce road traffic crashes . The
most out standings are:

 In 1997 Swedish parliament introduce “Vision Zero” that is based on a refusal to accept
human deaths or lifelong suffering as a result of road accidents.
 The vision of Danish “Every Accident is One too Many: Road safety start with you”
 Australian strategy vision “ no person should be killed or seriously injured on roads.”
 UK: Tomorrow’s Roads: Safer for Every One
 USA: Livable Street

For instance the European Commission published preliminary figures on road fatalities for 2020.
An estimated 18,800 people were killed in a road crash in 2019 - an unprecedented annual fall of
17% on 2019. Almost 4,000 fewer people lost their lives on EU roads in 2020 compared to 2019.
Lower traffic volumes, as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.We can see from the above
statistical data how much governments have invested in the safety of pedestrians in European
countries. Pedestrian fatalities are far more common in European Union accident situations than
in the United States. As published by the World Health Organization (WHO) on January 24,
2019. The number of pedestrian fatalities in the United States has increased dramatically in
recent years. ( Governors Highway Safety Association 2019 ) In Unit Kingdom from
March 2020 onwards following the corona virus (COVID-19) there were an estimated 1,580
road deaths in the year ending June 2020, which includes three months of national lockdown. In
comparison to the previous year, this is a 14 percent decrease. (Reported Road Casualties in

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Great Britain: Provisional Estimates Year Ending June 2020 to January 2021, Department of
Transport)

In 2019, the number of road deaths in France decreased overall, reaching its lowest level to date.
According to the most recent data, 3 244 people died in traffic accidents in 2019. Between 2000
and 2019, the number of traffic deaths per 100,000 people in France decreased by 64%. Due to a
20 percent increase in traffic volume since 2000, the fatality risk has decreased faster than the
number of deaths. In comparison to the year 2000, this represents a 70% reduction. (French Road
Safety: Annual Report 2020:) We can easily recognize from Europeans' experience that they are
densely populated, have more roads per kilometer, a large number of registered vehicles, a large
volume of traffic, but a lower cost of road crashes per GDP than Ethiopia and other developing
countries. Even though we have fewer vehicles and fewer roads per square kilometer, we have a
high rate of road traffic accidents and a high cost of road crashes every year.

From Asian country China & Taiwan is taking a good measure on pedestrians injure &
fatality. For example In Taiwan, it was common, if you cripple a man, you pay for the injured
person’s care for a lifetime. But if you kill the person, you “only have to pay once, like a burial
fee.” Most people agree that the hit-to-kill phenomenon stems at least in part from perverse
laws on victim compensation. In China the compensation for killing a victim in a traffic accident
is relatively small—amounts typically range from $30,000 to $50,000—and once payment is
made, the matter is over. By contrast, paying for lifetime care for a disabled survivor can run into
the millions. But now Both China and Taiwan have passed laws attempting to eradicate hit-to-
kill cases. Taiwan’s legislature reformed Article 6 of its Civil Code, which had long restricted
the ability to bring civil lawsuits on behalf of others (such as a person killed in a traffic accident).
Meanwhile, China’s legislature has emphasized that multiple-hit cases should be treated as
murders & Hit-to-kill cases continue, and hit-to-kill drivers regularly escape serious punishment.
(Published by slate groups 2021)

Trends in Road Traffic Injuries in Africa specially sub Sahara countries shows the the
highest road traffic death rates in the world. Less than one licensed vehicle per 100 inhabitants in
low-income Africa versus 60 in high income countries. This explains, for example, the reported
400% increase in road deaths in Nigeria between 1960s and 1980s. (World Health Organization.
Publications Accessed 22 May 2007.) From the case of sub Sahara countries About 90% of
Road Traffic cases and injuries occur in 12 countries Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali,
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Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia covers large part (31% of
Africa). From the country’s only in Ghana six people die daily on roads due to this Ghana
loses about 1.7 per cent of its GDP every year in addition to the loss of lives. ( Journal of
Advanced Transportation Volume 2020, )

From East African cities Pedestrians in Nairobi account for the highest proportion (59.1%)
proportion of road traffic injury admissions, followed by motor vehicle passengers. This is the
implication that most East African countries are affected badly from Road Traffic Accidents.
The sub part of the continent cited three east African countries with the worst fatality & injury
record in a single year.

Country year Fatalities Injury

Ethiopia 1998 1,693 7,455
Kenya 1995 2,617 22,993
Uganda 1997 1,575 6,212
Source: (African road safety review final report by Dr G Jacobs & A Aeron-Thomas)

5. From the context of Ethiopia and durame town

Ethiopia is considered as one of the worst countries in the Globe where road traffic accident
causes a lot of fatalities and injuries of road users every year. Due to Road traffic accident
Ethiopia loses around 36.3 billion birr (estimated 1.3 billion $) as a world bank report. (World
Health Organization & World Bank, 1999). While, this Ethiopia is one of the 50 countries with
the deadliest roads in the world (The Economist 2015). Principally, injured people have occupied
30 to 70 percent of orthopedic beds in country’s hospitals (World Health Organization (WHO),
2009). Road traffic accident related causalities are extremely high in Ethiopia. Pedestrian death
in Ethiopia was common and high. Accordingly; about 74% of the fatal, serious and slight injury
accidents happened when pedestrians tried to cross streets (Teferi Abagaz 2018).

5.1 Duram Town

Kembata Tembaro Zone is a zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples
Region . This zone is bordered on the south by Wolayita, on the southwest by Dawro, on the
northwest by Hadiya, on the north by Gurage, on the east by the Alaba Zone. Durame is a town

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& the administrative center of  Kembata Tembaro Zone . This town has a latitude and longitude
of 7°14′N 37°53′E with an elevation of 2101 meters above sea level . 

6. Challenges associated with the issue:

Because I live in SNNP, I am more familiar with the overall dynamic changes in Durame than
anyone else. If we start from the beginning, before the EPRDF took control of the country,
especially Durame, there was no public transportation in the town except for horse riders
(Traditional Cart ("Gari")). Because it is the center (main town) of the Kembata Tembaro Zone,
public transportation was introduced for the first time in 1990. Beginning in the 1990s, public
transportation delivery grew gradually from horse-drawn Garis to motorbikes, three-wheel
Bajajs, Dumas, and minibuses. Let's look at which mode and how much it costs.

Traditional Cart ('Gari'): Before a few years, when there was no asphalt road and the villages
were relatively close together, this mode of transportation was common in Durame. However, as
asphalt road coverage increased, the service was limited and pushed out to the town's outskirts,
where three-wheel Bajajs were not available.

Bicycles; bicycles are one of the most popular private transportation but in durame town it used
bysmall number of school students and low-income societies . This is why the town's elevation
or the topography of Durame are not conducive to riding pedal bicycles. Motorbikes and three-
wheeler taxis have surpassed bicycles as the primary mode of private transportation.

Motor Bike;  Most residents with middle level income are becoming more and more users of
private motor bike transportation system. The suitability of the roads, relatively lower priced
motor bikes availability and the growing need for faster transportation are contributing for the
greater degree of assimilation in motor bikes.

Bajaj taxi ; Bajaj taxi transport is in a fast growth and outreach the existing all other types of
transport system. As we understand from data source of transport office Bajaj taxis occupy a
huge percentage share of the total number of public transport vehicles registered in the town.

As the largest town in the Kembata tembaro Zone, all of the massive buildings, infrastructure
facilities, and other amenities are the result of the town's development, which is primarily driven
by the transportation sector, particularly public transportation.

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The impact of public transportation has its own print on the growth of the town, but in the case of
Durame, most of the time an abundance of accidents occur due to the abuse of pedestrian
sidewalks and the unlimited speed of motor cycles (due to derivers' bad conduct/habit.) As a
result, it takes a lot of commitment from traffic police and controls cooperation from all
concerned parties to keep pedestrian injuries to a minimum.This concept paper argues that
pedestrian safety should be a top priority in Durame's road safety efforts. Limiting motor bicycle
speeds to 30 km/h, providing pedestrian sidewalks, traffic calming in residential areas, traffic
education, and enforcement of traffic regulations.

7. Recommendations:

National transportation policy of Ethiopia states that “ focus has been given to the development
of the transport sector in the area of road, aviation, sea and maritime services and recently been
extended to the development of rail transport. Moreover, the regulatory and coordinating role of
the Ministry of Transport has been improved, modern office set ups, interior designs, procedural
improvements and technology-based changes are in place. On the other hand, we have to go a
long way to attain equitable benefits for women and youth in our country. ” But little emphasis
has not written about pedestrians equitability & safety on the policy. (National transport policy
page 13, 37 ) . This is the implication that shows how much the sector put down or undermined
to give the attention for vulnerable but majority part of citizens of the country.

It is essential to the federal government of Ethiopia particularly for transport sector to derive
any kind of initiative which give priority for the pedestrians . In any level of the structure from
federal to Keble responsible bodies should take majors on the pedestrian roads by destructing
shelters built on the pedestrians walk, taking legal action on road vendors, shoo brushing “
Listero” illegal off road parking’s, potato chips, “ jabena” coffee ceremonies , Wood products
and on other commercial activities to minimize unnecessary pedestrians death & injury specially
accidents taking place by motor cycle as the case of durame town.

8. Conclusion

Pedestrian road crashes result in a large number of deaths and injuries each year, especially in
low-income countries. Road accidents, on the other hand, are decreasing in developed countries
as infrastructure and safety programs continue to be invested in. Every year, approximately
400,000 pedestrians are killed in road traffic accidents around the world. Evidence-based

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policymaking and intervention planning, as well as media support, are recommended. One of the
top three most common problems faced by environmental charities in developing countries
around the world is a lack of a trace management system with a health-oriented approach and
sufficient authority. According to the experts' perspective, the challenges related to pedestrian’s
safety were classified under six categories including :

† "Challenges related to pedestrians",

† "Challenges related to drivers",
† "Management system challenges",
† "Environmental infrastructure challenges",
† "Educational and media challenges" and
† "Challenges of legislation and enforcement" . As a student of transportation planning and
management, I've noticed that wherever I go in the country, there are numerous obstacles
and small business activities that impede pedestrian mobility and expose them to traffic
accidents. The main goal of this concept paper is to provide essential understanding for
all members of society, to reduce abuse of pedestrian walk ways, particularly on the left
and right sides of any local or main road, and to protect pedestrians from unnecessarily
fatalities and violations of their rights throughout the country, particularly in Durame.

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References:
 An investigation on safety, comfort & convenience of pedestrian in Addis Ababa : A case of arterial
street’s side walks. Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development
(EiABC),
 C. M. Damoah and K. Asamoah, “Public private partnerships for improved service delivery: the case
of intercity STC coaches in Ghana,” Development in Practice, vol. 2020, Article ID 1757623, 13
pages, 2020
 Cerema (2020), Lowering the speed limit to 80 km/h – Final assessment report,
https://www.onisr.securite-routiere.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2020-08/CeremaEvaluationV80-
Juillet2020-V2_ENG.pdf.
 Challenges related to pedestrian safety: International Journal of Injury Control and Safety
Promotion. 2020:1–9.
 Commission's road safety work and EU road safety statistics
 Department for Transport Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain: provisional estimates year
ending June 2020 to January 2021.
 Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia National Transport Policy March 2012 E.C
 Gustave Eiffel University (2020), Projet automa-pied: Quelles interactions véhicules automa tisés-
pietons pour Demain?, https://www.onisr.securiteroutiere .gouv. fr/sites/ default/files/2020
 Investigation of Pedestrian Safety Problems and Its Countermeasures: A Case Study in Nekemte City,
Ethiopia.
 Journal of Advanced Transportation Volume 2020,
 Journal of Advanced Transportation Volume 2020, Article ID 7047189, 9 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/7047189
 Providing High-Visibility Pedestrian Enforcement Grants to 13 different communities in 2020
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 Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain: provisional estimates year ending June 2020 - Page 6
 Tabriz University of Medical Sciences https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7654-8123)
  The Free Dictionary's definition of pedestrian walkway.
 World Health Organization. Publications Accessed 22 May 2007.

The article titled "Pedestrian Safety Problems and Its Countermeasures" is one of the only two better
articles done in country level which focuses on the pedestrian problem. There are only few interesting
articles on this topic at global, continental, or national levels.

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