For all of my gushing about the UAE's planning advances, clearly there's still work to be done.
It's not just infrastructural problems, according to the article. Clearly, there aren't enough crosswalks or safe crossing zones in the city, or else this guy wouldn't be diving over a concrete median in the first place. The article also indicates that planners aren't thinking the right way about pedestrian safety. The focus is on bridges to carry peds over traffic, and more walls and barriers to keep pedestrians from jaywalking. All this does is make roads less and less hospitable to pedestrians, since cars can drive faster and be less attentive to their surroundings.
Amman has tried this strategy. Pedestrians are largely relegated to overhead bridges, which are often inconvenient, and are impossible for the handicapped. Even ordinary roads are divided with medians, encouraging speeding and recklessness. Ordinary intersections have been turned into onramps and offramps, and, as a result, no one bothers to look out for pedestrians - even at marked crosswalks. By relegating peds to bridges and incomplete sidewalks, Amman has effectively told drivers that they don't need to look out for them, and so I see the same types of harrowing close-calls in Amman's streets every day. Because of this outdated pedestrian planning mindset and the danger of walking anywhere, I get stuck shelling out money for a cab to go even a short distance, instead of walking and getting exercise.
Note to the UAE - look around you and see what has failed in Amman. Don't try the exact same thing in your cities.
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