Sir,
Õïu have, perhaps, heard it all before but walking is good for:
Õour health: walking combats obesity, heart disease, asthma, and other ailments.
In the right environment, walking can be relaxing and allow you to think.
Your social life: it’s difficult to stop and talk to fÞends you see while driving.
Tourism and business: tourists don’t come to Cyprus to get stuck in traffic jams or get run over by a driver who can’t wait a micro-second. Tourists and 1ocals out for the evening want to stroll, to window shop, and sit at a caf?.
The environment: air, noise, and water pollution are reduced by walking instead of driving.
Economic strength: the less petrol Cyprus consumes, the better the balance of trade.
Social equity: the poor, the young, the handicapped and others depend ïn the pavements.
Á good set of pavements and walking paths can also relieve congestion and is critical to the success of a public transit system.
The poor state of the pavements and pedestrian-unfriendly driving are major barriers to more walking. Across the island, there are open pits in the middle of pavements, uneven edges that cause people to trip, poles in the middle of the walk, construction debris scattered over the pavement, places where the pavement 20cm wide, puddles due to sloppy road construction, missing crosswalks, and an endless list of other hazards. Drivers park on the pavements making it impossible for a stroller or wheelchair user to pass. Drivers regularly creep past the stop line into the crosswalk, fail to stop for pedestrians on zebra crossings, and generally behave as if pedestrians don’t exist.
Promoting and developing a good walking system is within the expertise and interests of the architecture and town design community, civil engineers, tourism and business groups, and the medical community. Within parts of the EU and the US these groups work together (see www.mobilityweek-Europe.org). Perhaps, a municipality could go further and regularly design not only safe pavements but pleasant or even beautiful ones. Maybe benches, drinking fountains, shade trees or arcades, even public art could enliven many Cypriot streets.
But don’t wait for “someone” to fix the problem. You can make a difference by driving graciously, maintaining your pavement, or even just by walking to work ïn a beautiful day.
Mark Childs, Acropolis, Nicosia
