Date:10/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/10/stories/2008121059740300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Every second person owns a vehicle in the city

M.T. Shiva Kumar

BANGALORE: From 11.9 lakh vehicles in 1998, the number of vehicles on Bangalore roads has tripled in just 10 years even as the average speed of vehicles has drastically come down from 20 kmph to 8 kmph.

Despite several measures taken by the traffic police to reduce traffic congestion, including converting majority of arterial roads into one-ways, the traffic woes are never ending.

Of the 36 lakh vehicles for an 80-lakh population in the city, nearly 26 lakh (around 72 per cent) are two-wheelers and over five lakh (roughly 16 per cent) are four-wheelers. These vehicles which carry around 40 per cent of commuters occupy nearly 80 per cent of the road space leaving the rest to 5,000 Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses that carry over 45 per cent of the commuting population, 92,000 autorickshaws (three per cent) and taxis even as little space is available for pedestrians and cyclists.

This unprecedented growth in the number of vehicles has a telling effect on human safety as fatalities kept increasing.

While 703 persons were killed in road accidents in 2001, the numbers went up to 820 in 2002, 883 in 2003, 903 in 2004, 836 in 2005, 915 in 2006, 981 in 2007 and 925 in 2008 till November.

While the main culprits have been trucks, two-wheelers, cars, BMTC and KSRTC buses respectively, majority of the victims (over 30 per cent) were pedestrians followed by two-wheeler riders and cyclists. Mushrooming vehicles have taken up whatever space available on roads and even on footpaths leaving little space for pedestrians and cyclists.

Cyclists too

When the city had around 1.70 lakh vehicles in 1982, over 55 per cent of the commuting public used buses. However, in 2006, the modal share of BMTC buses came down to 45 per cent, said the Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Plan for Bangalore prepared by RITES.

Also, the modal share of cyclists has drastically came down from 16.1 per cent in 1982 to just 2.4 per cent in 2006.

Since the Department is mandated only to regulate traffic, the City Traffic Police are struggling hard to make space available to each and every vehicle, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic-West) Panduranga H. Rane.