I commend former civil servant Jaspal Singh for arguing in favour of making Singapore's roads more pedestrian-friendly (From highways to High Streets, July 22).

Singapore's roads have strongly favoured the private car user over pedestrians and public transport users.

The perfect illustration of this trade-off is the infamous Whitley Road overhead bridge, which spans the width of the Pan Island Expressway as well as the lanes of Whitley Road, measuring almost a hundred metres.

In this trade-off, for the speeds we get on the expressway, it is the pedestrian who makes the sacrifice.

The prioritisation of high average speeds is not surprising. The Land Transport Authority's optimal speed range on expressways is 45kmh to 65kmh.

However, we have to wonder if the solution is to always resort to the use of overhead bridges for the pedestrians to share the road.

Tan Yee Kiat