CROSSPASSES AND STAIRS

In Kızılay, in order not to interfere the traffic flow, too many overpasses and subways are constructed. However, the situation has just gone to the opposite direction for the pedestrians especially disabled, old, pregnant women and children. They find it difficult and they throw themselves to the road instead of using the gateways and subways. To defend themselves, they claim that the stairs which are used intensively by the citizens of Ankara has a lot of disadvantages. Those with dent base and collapsed surfaces are forming threat fort the children and elders. While their weight and height are not appropriate stairs totally. ( Not Simple and Intuitive Use)

To illustrate, because of the rain and the snow ,stairs get covered with ice, becoming dangerous and impracticle. The stairs on the overpasses are at different levels and too high for people’s anatomy to walk easily. Some of them are broken, old, rugged and constructed without considering the potential users. (High physical Effort) Therefore, they choose the vehicle road to cross the street. This action may cause accidents and even risk their lives. (Not Tolerance For Error) Lack of traffic lights, traffic signals and ignorance of the traffic policemen increases the use of vehicle road. The funny thing about this situation is that there are 17 overpasses just in the 500 km distance in the Meşrutiyet Street. Not only they are not used by pedestrians, but also this leads to visual pollution.

There is  no way other than stairs. HOW DISABLED PEOPLE ACROSS THE OTHER SIDE? DO THEY HAVE TO BE STUCK IN THEIR HOUSES??( Unflexibility in Use)


Erdal Kurtlaş who is the president of Şehir Plancılar Odası pointed out that the stairs which are located in the city center are unable to be reconstructed, Kurtlaş stated: “During the process of planning the city each people must be considered from the youngest one to the disabled. Because stairs are handicaps for especially these disabled people. The problems of the pedestrians are ignored by the city authorities. (karanfil sokak,Sakarya caddesi)

WRITTEN BY SERAY GÖKÇE PEKİNER.