ON Jan. 12, Shenzhen Daily published a letter from Yann Le Berre who was happy that barriers were installed on the side of a road so that pedestrians can now walk on the sidewalks since cars cannot park there anymore. The newspaper published two pictures along with the letter.

    It is indeed good that sidewalks are now clear of cars. Unfortunately, pedestrians in many areas for some odd reason prefer to walk on the main road instead of on the sidewalks, even at night when there is very little light. This could be seen in Le Barre’s “after” photo. Not only do they walk on the main road, they also tend to walk in the same direction as the cars go on that lane, meaning they cannot see if a car is coming if it approaches them from behind and are thus unable to avoid it if the driver notices them too late.

    Shenzhen people still need a lot of traffic education, not only drivers but all road users, including pedestrians. This should start at a very early age at school. China has the highest death rate from traffic accidents in the world. If we want to lose that notorious reputation, we need to improve the country’s traffic education.  Jeffry Kuperus via email