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I find it strange that whenever we design roads we seem to give predominance to cars, forgetting that pedestrians also use these roads. Like many, as a child I grew up playing football on the streets, a very rare sight today.

Some of our residential streets can easily be turned into safe havens for the elderly and children with the removal of pavements, the strategic planting of trees and a speed limit of 20kph.

The photo shows a two-way traffic residential area declared a “play street”. The speed limit here is below 30kph. There is no pavement and trees are planted on alternate sides creating a slalom effect to ensure cars drive slowly while also allowing for parking.

This kind of thinking is sorely missing in our country, where we are more likely to chop down trees and give predominance to traffic than to give priority to pedestrian safety.