Dire lack of crossings forces Mumbai pedestrians to tread a risky path

By: Nitasha Natu & Sanyukta Singh
MUMBAI: More than half of all journeys made in Greater Mumbai everyday are on foot, according to an official 2016 study. Yet, city authorities do not prioritise pedestrians over vehicles. One example of that neglect is the lack of safe, mid-block crossings for pedestrians, even at prime locations, as TOI found in a survey this week.





Ideally, there should be crossings every 80-100m, suggests the Global Street Design Guide, put together by experts from 72 cities as part of an initiative by New York-based non-profit association NACTO. The guide notes that if it takes a person more than three minutes to walk to a pedestrian crossing, s/he may decide to cross along a more direct, unsafe route.

But in Mumbai, there are stretches as long as 350-400m without a safe pedestrian crossing. A case in point is Veer Nariman Road, where a person walking from Churchgate station towards Marine Drive can only cross at an unmarked opening in the median near Hotel Ambassador, dodging cars taking a turn.

“It’s essential to mark a crossing, ensure that either ends of the footpath are accessible, and protect the crossing with a traffic signal, a speed hump or a speed table,” an independent urban planner said.

“Speed humps, if constructed in the manner prescribed in the Indian Road Congress guidelines, do not bring vehicles to a complete halt before the zebra crossing; they will slow down the vehicle enough to protect pedestrians,” he added.

Safety features such as speed bumps are vital because traffic often doesn’t stop for zebra crossings. At Annie Besant Road in Worli, for instance, a zebra crossing is marked at the intersection with Bhogadevi Marg, but the signal alongside does not function. “It is very dangerous to cross Annie Besant Road as cars move at high speeds and none of them halt,” K Adjania, who works nearby, said.

Pedestrians accounted for over 50% of the 490 fatalities that occurred in road crashes last year.

“Traffic policemen are instructed to keep vehicles moving whereas the focus should be on giving pedestrians the right of way to cross,” said Pankaj Joshi, executive director, Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI). He recommended that stretches such as Bora Bazaar and Perin Nariman Street near CST, which see huge volumes of pedestrians, be declared vehicle-free.

Safe crossings also require a proper refuge in the median, or middle of the road crossing, for people to stand on. That’s missing at many crossings. Mumbai’s increasing reliance on foot over-bridges and subways may be misguided. “World over, experience has shown that overbridges and subways increase walking distance and are frequently avoided by pedestrians,” said Urmi Kenia, a spatial planner and director with UDRI. “They also keep out elderly and physically challenged pedestrians.”

New York provides an example of another safety measure. After discovering that most serious injuries and fatalities occurred at pedestrian crossings, New York’s department of transportation introduced leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs): traffic signals that gave walkers a head-start before cars ventured into an intersection. The few extra seconds allowed most pedestrians to reach halfway across the road—where they are visible to motorists.