The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Pedestrian safety needs to be strengthened'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 24, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Pedestrian safety needs to be strengthened'

By K. V. Subramanya

BANGALORE, OCT. 23. With around 350 pedestrians and cyclists getting killed in road accidents in Bangalore every year, there is a general impression that the safety of pedestrians and cyclists has been ignored by the city police. More than half of the people killed and injured in accidents are pedestrians and cyclists. Hosur Road, Sarjapur Road, Bannerghatta Road, Tumkur Road, Mysore Road and the outer ring roads have virtually turned into a death trap for them. Senior police officials working in the traffic wing admit that there has been an increase in the number of pedestrians and cyclists getting killed and injured in road accidents.

They attribute various reasons for it and also suggest remedies.

After many roads in the city being made one-way, the speed of vehicles has increased and pedestrians and slow-moving cyclists are at a disadvantage. As the outer ring roads are good, drivers are tempted to speed their vehicles and in the process pedestrians and cyclists get hit, the police say.

Causes

Further, the pedestrian behaviour itself is one of the main causes for such accidents as people tend to walk on roads and cross the roads where they are not supposed to, the police say. But the major cause of such accidents is the inadequate pedestrian facilities all over the city. There are no pedestrian subways, foot overbridges and zebra crossings on many busy roads, including J.C. Road and Kempe Gowda Road, in the heart of the city. "On the entire stretch of Hosur Road, where vehicles normally over speed, there is not a single pedestrian crossing. Pedestrian safety has been totally ignored," says a senior official who was earlier the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic). With industries, educational institutions and business establishments dotting Hosur Road and Sarjapur Road, there is heavy pedestrian movement on the road.

Most of the pedestrians who have got killed on Hosur Road are those who were drunk.

Many liquor shops that have come up on this road are indirectly contributing to accidents, he explains.

Awareness

The official suggests that apart from providing good and fenced pavements and educating people about general pedestrian behaviour, the police should also come out with site-specific solutions to bring down the number of road accidents. Having more pedestrian subways and foot overbridges and checking the speed limit of vehicles can reduce the accidents involving pedestrians, he says.

After conducting a survey, the city police have suggested to the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike to provide sub-ways and foot overbridges at 105 places in the city, which have been identified as accident-prone spots.

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