Driven to the edge

NO ONE looks at it as a kind of war, but it extracts a heavy toll of life each year. Out of 85,000 people who die on Indian roads, almost 30,000 are pedestrians. Another four lakh people who walk on the roads, are seriously injured in mishaps. About a 100 pedestrians die every day on average.

Chennai is one theatre in this conflict, and the indifference of the city's managers to the victims, was discussed at the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) national conference at New Delhi on the ``Neglected and Vulnerable Road User - The Pedestrian''.

Speaker after speaker asserted, ``Yes, the pedestrians, the women, those who are on the roads for occupational reasons, like traffic police and conservancy workers, children at play, the thousands that cross the road, the millions that walk on pavements or non-pavements, the physically challenged - are vulnerable indeed''. There was unanimity on this.

Whether it is New Delhi, Amritsar, Thiruvananthapuram or Chennai, the problems are no different. It is an all too familiar set of reasons, that city managers continue to ignore: encroachments by hawkers and pavement dwellers, advertisement billboards, governments putting up electric transformers and telephone pillars, bridges that don't have pedestrian pathways, places of worship on walkways, stormwater and sewerage drains with gaping holes..the hurdles are endless.

Chennai has some unique distinctions, though. Such as a statement by the Mayor, that pavements are not really necessary, because people don't use them.

The City Police should do some hard thinking, listening to what Dr. K.P. Subramanian and Dr. M. Kanagaraj of Anna University have to say: zebra crossings signals are timed for vehicular and not pedestrian speeds. Pedestrians are expected to climb steep stairways in foot overbridges to cross small stretches of road. This ``hills and valleys'' scenario caused laughter at the national forum.

Among the 32 papers that will go into forming a national policy for the pedestrians is one authored by Dr. T.Anantharajan, Professor-Emeritus, Division of Urban Systems Development, Anna University. Focussing on pedestrian behaviour and administrative lacuna, he says existing sidewalks are affected when road improvements are done. There is an urgent need to implement Indian Road Congress Guidelines on pedestrian facilities and to ensure that urban roads are provided with adequate pavements on both sides.

The youth have a major role to play in this, says Ms. Arushi Baluja, highlighting the role of the Student Traffic Volunteers in achieving positive results in Delhi. An example for Road Safety Patrols in Chennai.

Pictures shown by Mr.Javed Abidi, Head, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People provide some humour and food for thought too. One Delhi subway ``thankfully'' had a ramp and the challenged pedestrian wheeled down only to find that there were only footsteps at the other end. He wanted to meet the brilliant architect!

The question that people were left with: do we have pavements that inspire people? Thinkers, writers, poets, scientists, artists and musicians, children. Or should we live and die by our motorised creations?

By Akila Dinakar

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