Two accidents on Sunday night where pedestrians who were trying to cross the road were hit by vehicles, has yet again brought to the fore the problem of pedestrian safety in the city.
The first incident took place at St John’s Hospital Junction. Three medical students were hit by a car while crossing the road, and were grievously injured.
In the second instance, a 58-year-old woman died after she was knocked down by a speeding car on IAF Road in Yelahanka, when she was crossing the road.
According to data available with Bangalore Traffic Police, on an average, four pedestrians met with accidents every day in the city over the last eight months. About 20% of them were fatal. As many as 999 accidents where pedestrians were hit by motorists have been reported between January 1 and August 31, 2018, in which 184 people were killed and 815 injured.
A look at data from previous years shows that this problem has been a persistent one. In 2017, 284 pedestrians died in road accidents while the year before, the number of fatalities was 320.
The traffic police put the onus on the inability of motorists to follow road rules, and negligence of pedestrians, but residents hold the civic body accountable for poor road infrastructure.
Pavements, signals, skywalks needed
“The absence of footpath, pedestrian signals and skywalks are a safety hazard for residents,” said D.S. Rajashekar of Citizens Action Forum. Be it the St John’s Hospital junction, the Outer Ring Road stretch or Panathur Road, the main problem is poor road infrastructure, he said. “We have seen protests by residents of Panathur Road demanding a footpath on this stretch. Those travelling on the ORR stretch near Bellandur have been demanding a skywalk from a long time. It is high time that the civic body took note of these demands,” he said.
‘Poor planning of skywalks’
In many instances, the existing skywalks are badly planned and have done little to mitigate the problem.
A student of Christ University said there were not many takers for the skywalk in front of the college as it was located at a bad spot. “The bus stop is situated ahead of the skywalk. Even if one crosses to the other side of the road, there is no footpath to walk till the bus stop. Hence, students try to jump over the median,” the student said.
Chalukya Circle is another example, said civic activist Vinay Sreenivasa. “There are five roads that diverge in front of Sophia’s High School. However, the skywalk connects only two,” he pointed out, adding that pedestrian signals were the only solution, as even senior citizens could access them with ease.
‘Need pelican light, walkway’
In the wake of the accident on Sunday, students of St John’s Medical College will submit a petition to the local MLA, traffic police and BBMP seeking better infrastructure at the junction.
Sanjiv Lewin, Associate Medical Superintendent, St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, said the hospital sees nearly 4,000 visitors every day, making it all the more crucial to put in place a walkway or a pelican signal at the spot. “The roads near the busy hospital junction are too wide, with no walkway, posing a risk to pedestrian safety,” he said.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R. Hitendra said there are about 200 pelican lights (Pedestrian Light Control Activation) in the city, for which there has been poor response, mostly owing to lack of awareness. “The lights are designed in such a way that two simultaneous operations are possible only with a gap of about 120 seconds. Many people would have tried to press the button in this gap and would have assumed that the light is not functioning. This time stipulation ensures that traffic flow is not disturbed,” he said, urging people to make use of them.