29% of pedestrians killed on city roads in 2017 were senior citizens

BENGALURU: Elderly people on foot are at high risk on Bengaluru streets. Around 29% of the pedestrians who died in road accidents during 2017 were aged above 60, shows a report compiled by the Footpath Initiative, an urban project aimed at improving walkers’ safety.

However, people in the age group of 41-60 years accounted for the maximum pedestrian deaths at 39%. Anusha Chitturi, who along with Varun Sridhar prepared the report, said the middle-aged comprising a large chunk of the victims isn’t surprising as their proportion among people on roads is very high. Comparatively, fewer senior citizens are on the road and yet they account for many fatalities.



The elderly are followed by those in the 25-40 age group, who formed 22% of the victims. While 6% of the pedestrians killed on Bengaluru roads were in the 15-24 age group, 4% were up to 14 years old. “The lack of pavements or pedestrian crossings suitable for the elderly is one of the primary reasons for them being at risk, as they’re comparatively less agile. Arterial roads are wide but don’t have any provision of safe spaces for pedestrians to wait by the side or on the median while crossing,” said the report.

Of the 642 people killed on city roads in 2017, 282 were pedestrians.



CBD relatively safer

Thanks to wider pavements like those along TenderSURE roads, better enforcement and pedestrian crossing facilities, the central business district (CBD) recorded the least pedestrian fatalities in the city, despite witnessing heavy traffic.

The report stated that Cubbon Park, Sadashivanagar, High Grounds, Ashoknagar, Shivajinagar, KG Halli, City Market, Magadi Road and RT Nagar reported 12 pedestrian deaths in 2017, amounting to only 4% of the total fatalities. A majority of the deaths were recorded in peripheral areas, including KR Puram, Banaswadi, Byatarayanapura, Yeshwantpur, Peenya, Electronics City and Yelahanka.

“These areas, most of which adjoin Outer Ring Road, have consistently seen a high number of pedestrian deaths as compared to other areas in the past few years,” the report stated, adding that lack of pedestrian crossings on ORR makes walkers vulnerable to accidents.

January sees more deaths

The month-wise analysis shows that nearly 14% of all fatal pedestrian accidents in 2017 were reported in January. However, the number of accidents was comparatively lower during April and November. A significant 19% of all fatal accidents happened on Mondays as compared to 12% on Sundays.

The report revealed that about one sixth of the victims died at the accident spot without receiving medical aid. Nearly half of the victims who died instantly were run over by vehicles.

Bikes, cars biggest culprits

At least half of the fatal accidents involved a two-wheeler or car. Bikes were the biggest threat, contributing to 27% of the fatalities, while cars were the culprits in 25% of the cases.

In areas such as Banaswadi and Whitefield, two-wheeler involvement in pedestrian deaths was high, whereas Adugodi, HSR Layout and Jayanagar saw a large percentage of accidents involving cars. Over 80% of all pedestrian accidents in Electronics City involved a car or a truck, and no accident involved a two-wheeler. Nearly 90% of the crashes were attributed to overspeeding and reckless driving, 2.5% to drunk driving and 3.2% to reversing the vehicle carelessly.