• Home
• /
• Letters

Pedestrians’ peril on Damascus Street

Damascus Street is now a preferred route for vehicular traffic from and to Sharjah to avoid the toll charges on Beirut and Ittihad Roads. With the traffic having increased manifold and a lack of pedestrian crossings, residents on either side of the road have to walk half a kilometre to the crossings on each end of the road in order to reach bus stops or pray at the only mosque located midway on this street.

This tempts many a person to frequently jaywalk and put their lives at risk. This stretch has already seen three fatalities over the past few years where speeding cars have hit jaywalkers, in one instance a boy crossing to the mosque for prayers. The presence of plainclothes traffic inspectors to accost jaywalkers and issue fines has not prevented this phenomenon.

The array of banks located across the street also brings in visitors who for want of parking space park on the opposite side and walk over. A pedestrian bridge located strategically in the middle of this stretch of street close to the mosque, similar to the one near Grand Hotel on Damascus Street, would be a boon.

Vaisakh Vineethan, Dubai