The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Among all those wheels, no space for people

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Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Among all those wheels, no space for people

Deepa Kurup

Not only are our roads unfriendly to vehicles but more crucially, no one cares about the pedestrian

52 per cent of accidents in 2007 involved pedestrians
Bangalore is ranked 13th on the ‘walkability index’

— Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

Who cares? Pedestrians have no place to move as vehicles are parked haphazardly on Avenue Road in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: Vehicles screeched to a halt when a young woman tripped over the knee-high median on the busy Bellary Road on Tuesday morning. The woman was trying to negotiate her way across the wide four-lane “signal-free” road near Sadashivnagar, which makes no bones about being pedestrian unfriendly. This seemingly “minor” oversight by the road planners could have claimed her life.

Shocking casualties

Far from talking about disability-friendly roads, our roads and expressways are an obstacle race even to the most athletic pedestrians. Police records reveal that a whopping 518 pedestrians died and 2,367 were injured in 2007, compared with 328 deaths in 2005. Nearly 52 per cent of the road accidents in 2007 involved pedestrians. In 2008, up to August 31, 308 pedestrians have lost their lives.

All the city’s arterial roads, including the recently widened outer ring roads — Tumkur Road, Hosur Road and Mysore Road — contribute to this staggering statistic. The Indian Road Congress stipulates a minimum of 1.5-metre pavement space on both sides; a rule hardly followed in central and dense spaces such as Commercial Street and even Shivajinagar.

The first casualty of every road widening project — after the trees, of course — is the humble pedestrian. With the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) widening 91 arterial roads in the city, more footpaths are slated to be narrowed and more pedestrian spaces will be lost in the coming year. BBMP engineers say that all plans include footpaths and drains and that pavements will be added to all these roads soon. The BBMP budget also proposes 34 automated pedestrian skywalks to solve the problem. However, every day pedestrians continue to play dodge games with speeding motorists.

For example: Bellary Road has no signals, which gives motorists the licence to not stop for anyone, especially pedestrians. It also has zero sidewalks and pedestrian crossings. Add to this the fact that nodal bus stops, such as the one near the Hebbal Flyover, are bereft of shelters. “When it rained last week, everyone was stranded in the middle of the road for hours,” says Rohan D’Souza, a commuter. The National Highways Authorities of India (NHAI) had said it would construct underpasses and take up other projects to ensure pedestrian safety. However, one person dies in a road accident on this road — that also leads to the new airport — every other day.

Bangalore’s standing

A 2008 study commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development ranks Bangalore 13th on the “walkability index”. With 30 cities as the sample, this puts Bangalore at 0.63 (compared that to an average index of 0.53 and cities like London boasting an estimated 1.7), way below all the major cities in the country. This index is based on availability of footpaths and pedestrian facilities. Raja Rao, head of the technical committee appointed by the High Court on roads, points out that the problem is equally bad in residential areas. “The Town Planning Act says that entry of any property should be inside. This is violated everywhere and with people building right till the edge of the road. This is very uncomfortable for all pedestrians, let alone aged people,” he explains. “All work today is like fire fighting; they simply acquire property and widen the road,” he says.

According to the Environmental Impact notification by the Centre issued in September 2006, it is mandatory to hold a public hearing and consult all users before all infrastructure projects are planned. “There is no EIA conducted especially in projects like the fast track linkage to the airport and even the metro rail,” he said.

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