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By Nedra Vittachi

Crossing the road at the best of times can be a treacherous hazard. Though the crossing is there slap bang in front of a motorist, they don't adhere to road rules.

Unless you hold your palm out, there is no guarantee that a car won't whiz past you , possibly knocking you down and in drastic situations kill you.

The buses - private or government - are the worse culprits. They are one brand of motorists who don't give a fig for pedestrians or human lives.

They will rev past you with their horns screeching belligerently and expecting the walker to step aside for the urgency of the bus driver.

Once I tried crossing the road flanked by other walkers, so that if a bus should knock down anybody - it won't be me.

There were so many waiting for the opportune moment that there was quite a tussle and I nearly got knocked down by a pedestrian.

If a motorist knocks you down, there is a legal recourse but if a person knocks you down unwittingly - what is the redress?

Another instance, I tried crossing to no avail. I held up my arm to halt the traffic and bingo a three wheeler stopped. I was walking to a nearby place so I didn't hop into it though I should have because I had to twiddle my thumbs waiting aimlessly for ten whole minutes for the traffic to cease.

If there is a crowd at the crossing waiting an opportunity, you can swim with the tide , but if you're alone it is impossible if not deadly.

Only just once did a crossing catastrophe have some justice - when a cop at the crossing tried to take some action, he was nearly knocked down by a bus. The driver was immediately arrested and we all pedestrians crossed with ease.

But on a usual day, there are no cops visible at all. They will hang around yards away and gaze at the opposite direction. Or worse still they will not look away and do sweet nothing.

Once a cop was within distance and I appealed to him. He merely said to wait for an empty space and take my chance.

Overtaking on the left side is a common atrocity among motorists. This adds to the crossing debacle because the motorist who takes over on the left cannot see the person at the crossing. This is sure death or murder as the case may be.

When in London the motorists - leave alone stopping with ease at a level crossing - do not even horn. There is someone responsible at a crossing, to see that justice to the pedestrian is meted out effectively.

But we are in good ole Lanka and the authorities should take action, like posting a policeman (if there are any left with the ongoing war) at every crossing.

Another issue which should be looked into is the state of the crossing. In most of them, the yellow lines are erased, eroded or not the drivers have the same appallingly cussed attitude.

The level crossing then becomes an unlevel crossing. 

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