The Broken Windows Theory in regard to our footbridges
Can disorder simply reduce because of installation of streetlights? I set out to find that out through comparing two footbridges at the Nyayo Stadium roundabout.
In March 1982, two criminologists known as James Q. Wilson and George Kelling wrote a groundbreaking article in The Atlantic Monthly, titled: Broken Windows. In this article, then, they went on to explain that crime is the inevitable result of disorder.
If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street in which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes. In a city, relatively minor problems such as littering and mugging, they wrote, are all the equivalent of broken windows; invitation to more serious crimes.
I thought about this theory the other day when I was outside at 8pm in the night. I had just found myself at the Nyayo Stadium roundabout and, with nothing to do but with the energy to do everything, I decided to talk a saunter along Lang’ata Road as I surveyed the state of the road at night.
But no sooner had I started, than I noticed that the roundabout junction has two footbridges; one enabling pedestrians to cross Mombasa Road, while the other enabling pedestrians to cross Lang’ata Road. Curiosity got the better part of me, and so I decided to check them both out.
Externally, there were visible differences between both. The Mombasa Road one was built by KeNHA, while the Lang’ata Road one was built by KURA. The Mombasa Road one was made of reinforced concrete, while the Lang’ata Road one was made of structural streel.
Now, to test them out:
I started with the Mombasa Road one because that’s the side I was.
On the ascending stairs, was a street urchin smoking a cigarette, while coldly staring at those of us going up. Then, at the whole length of the crossing, were three street families, covered up in their blankets, lying on one wall of the footbridge. Just across them, was a young couple, staring at the procession of cars on Uhuru Highway below, as they candidly chatted with each other. Not to forget the litter that was sprawled all over. At the descending stairs, I was met by another street urchin, with both his hands in his trouser, doing Lord-knows-what!
There were only a few of us using the bridge, and it was so dark and scary that I couldn’t take a picture, let alone take my phone out. When I got down, I noticed that people prefer to cross the road next to the cars, yet the bridge literally exists there. Well, believe me when I tell you that there was even a police below, and he just watched all these people defy the footbridge.
Anyway, I went to the Lang’ata Road one. First, it has two entries on both sides. There’s the ramp, presumably for those on wheels (the disabled and cyclists), and the ordinary stairs, for the abled and fit. Two, the whole footbridge is well-lit, with lighting bulbs along the whole length of the bridge plus along the stairs and ramp. Three, there were no idlers on this bridge. Four, there was a higher number of users, with no one visibly competing with the cars below to cross. Five, it was clean.
Additionally, so safe was it that I took my phone out, took photos of every feature, and even comfortably held the phone out for the whole period in order to see whether anyone would grab it from my hands. And, to confirm my theory, no one did.
So, what difference existed between the two footbridges? Just lighting.
If we wanted people to use the Mombasa Road footbridge, we just need to install lighting. This will ensure that there are no street families taking camp there, and no mugging will take place. Also, it’ll ensure no littering takes place.
Just as the Head of the New York City Transit Authority, David L. Gunn, and the Head of the New York City Transit Police, William J. Bratton, used this Broken Windows theory to reduce the incidences of crime in the 1980s -1990s, so should our local authorities, and it will definitely go a long way.