Often we hear loud voices of the driver of the private vehicles saying that we need wider carriage ways and definitely do not need a footpath. Is this a fact? If all footpaths were removed and only carriage ways existed, would the traffic move at a much faster pace?
Think about it and you will arrive at the answer. The opposite will happen and the traffic will start crawling at an extremely slow pace. As many studies have clearly shown , 'the intermixing of vehicles and pedestrian movements in the absence of footpaths results in reduced speeds and increase in number of accidents. The provision of footpaths and pedestrian crossings and can reduce these conflicts to a great extent and increase the average speed. This low cost traffic improvement measure can bring out substantial reduction in emissions'.*
**Also data from the AP Police shows the following:
1. Dead: 263 Pedestrians: 263/ 391= 67%
2. Injured: 2047 Pedestrians: 2047/ 3447 = 59%,
3. 170/ 263 = 65% of the deaths to pedestrians occur while they are crossing the road.
4. 1151/ 2047= 56% of the injuries to pedestrians occur while they are crossing the road.
Once the motorised vehicle driver touches a pedestrian, the pedestrian is either dead or badly injured. Normally in India, the motorised driver is the one who is held to be at fault. So either the driver gets beaten up by the crowd or has to abscond fast leaving behind a hit and run case. Which ever way one looks at it, the driver is left behind with a trauma to deal with for life. Can we not avoid all this and make ourselves ( the drivers) safer?
So isn't it high time that we got the footpaths barricaded if necessary and safe pedestrian crossings and ensured that our carriage way was clear and drive worthy?
*Source: Study published by the EPTRI, April 2005.
**Source: AP Traffic Police data (2007)
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1 comment:
Dear Kanthi,
In this post and through the entire website, which I browsed, you are speaking not only for your city, but for all the cities and towns of India.
I see that you have thought through many aspects of this problem. The simplest solution would be that footpaths should be sacred territory and nothing -- neither shopkeepers, nor parked or moving vehicles, garbage cans, hawkers etc should be allowed to use the footpaths.
Where the footpaths are not present and are not possible (because roads are too narrow), we have made a formal request to the Municipal and Traffic Police Commissioner that they should create a 6-foot dedicated pathway for pedestrians on either side of the road divided -- ie. in the centre. The city's planning should be pedestrian centric, not vehicle-centric.
In addition to this, we are asking for strict enforcement of no-parking on public carriageways, so that pedestrians are enabled to at least walk on the road margins, rather than being forced to walk at the centre of the roads by parked vehicles.
I suggest that we should unite and ignite a pan-Indian movement for pedestrians. Let us discuss details and formulate plans.
Warm Regards,
krish
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