In a two-year span of 2016 and 2017, 217 people were killed in road accidents in the city, and 72 of them were pedestrians, as per police records.
One of the prime reasons for a large number of pedestrians being killed is that pavements along the city roads are either non-existent or encroached by shopkeepers and vendors or badly damaged, forcing pedestrians to walk on roads. Broad pavements that provide uninterrupted passage to pedestrians is supposed to be an integral part of road infrastructure. But on a majority of Madurai roads, be it the vast old city around Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, or other shopping areas such as Anna Nagar, Bypass Road, Gokhale Road and KK Nagar in the north and western parts of Madurai, pedestrians are forced to walk on road margins in the absence of platforms.
As for old parts of the city where pavements are badly needed for the thousands of people who visit the wholesale and retail shops, encroachment is total. Fruit stalls and commission agents completely occupy the pavements in Simmakkal and East Masi Street.
While the Corporation authorities conduct customary raids once in two or three months, encroachments by shopkeepers and traders go unchecked, forcing people to walk on road margins, braving a steady stream of tricycles, cars and goods carriers.
One of the shoppers says the practice of placing gunny bags of goods and other ware right on the platforms on East Masi Street eats into the public space. So the pedestrians have no other option but to walk on roads.
On Bypass Road
J. Vanaja, a resident of Ellis Nagar, says the long stretch of Bypass Road with a large number of shops, showrooms and a variety of commercial establishments, does not even have pavements. She says her two children walk home on this road from their school van’s drop point, braving speeding vehicles. In the absence of platforms, Bypass Road is totally unsafe for people, she says.
Crossing over to north Madurai, in the case of Panagal Road, the pavements stink of urine since visitors coming to the Government Rajaji Hospital relieve themselves on the roadside. Coming away from the hospital, one sees either damaged pavements or open stormwater drains.
On many busy areas, particularly near Madurai railway junction on West Veli Street, two-wheelers are parked right on the pavement, making streams of pedestrians walk on the unsafe roads.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Arun Balagopalan says pedestrians could get killed if they are knocked down by vehicles driven at a speed above 40 km per hour. He says solar red blinker lights and zig zag barricades have been placed across the city to slow down vehicles and prevent accidents.
Mr. Balagopalan says that they have identified spots where maximum accidents occur, such as vicinity of hospitals and places of worship where a large number of people congregate, so as to improve safety measures. “We have put up signboards and speed limit signs across the city. We remove encroachments once in three months in business hubs. We have painted zebra crossings on 25 roads in the past year,” he says.