It’s said time and again that the pedestrians are “kings of the road”, however, in reality, it is just a myth. In a report published by TOI, around 56 pedestrians died daily last year. According to government data, the number of deaths in the year 2014 was 12,300 which increased with 66% to 20,457 in the year 2017. Such statistics are alarming even though policymakers draft laws keeping pedestrians in consideration. But, in India, pedestrians are the least cared for by the motorists as well as by the traffic cops.
The issue of pedestrian safety is of grave concern as it is the pedestrian who has faced the brunt of erratic and reckless driving and the traffic police turning a blind eye towards their grievances. In a close look to the report, it has been found that last year the state of Tamil Nadu has topped the list with 3,507 fatalities followed by Maharashtra with 1,831 and Andhra Pradesh with 1,379. According to TOI, Union Road Transport Secretary, YS Malik expressed his concern over how motorists in India have little respect for the rights of the pedestrian. Even though media outlets and organizations talk about road safety, the concern of pedestrians hardly makes it to the table of discussion. I tried talking to a few pedestrians across India who had the same concern over their safety.
Encroachment Of Footpaths
One of the major obstacles for pedestrian safety is encroachment of footpaths by shops and other establishments which forces pedestrians to walk on the busy road risking their lives. “There is no one to keep an eye on shanty shops that are everywhere on the footpaths. Footpaths are meant only for the pedestrians,” said Amlanjyoti. a student based in Guwahati. The encroachments by such shops are usually cleared by massive eviction drive carried out by the administration but again the shopkeeper gets successful in placing their shop the next day.
“Even though eviction drives are carried out by the authorities once in a blue moon, it eventually isn’t fruitful. The congestion on the footpaths – meant for the pedestrians – results in pedestrians walking on the road, making it a risk for their life from the reckless drivers,” added Amlanjyoti.
YKA user Basanta Nirola shared similar thoughts and said, “I believe that most of the cities across India are still unsafe for pedestrians. Footpaths do exist but every time you can see is some shops or else the footpaths are kept open for some governmental work. Every time the administration fails in doing their duty properly.” In April this year, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation on orders from Gauhati High Court carried out a massive eviction drive in the city’s busy Fancy Bazar in which around 230 vendors were evicted declaring the bazaar as “No vending zone”, however, in other parts of the city, the footpaths are still encroached upon by shanty shops selling betel nuts and other items.
Rash Driving And Pot Holes
Suzanne Upadhyaya, a student of Delhi University expressed her concern over rash driving and the most-talked issue of potholes. She said, “there are too many potholes left unattended in the national capital which makes roads highly unsafe for both the motorists and the pedestrians. Moreover, the police do not pay heed to the increasing number of rash-driving cases and those against those insensible drivers who end up taking innocent lives of animals and humans. They [police] only collect fines from auto drivers and e-rickshaw drivers but they never act on those driving rashly. These problems need to be addressed.” Sukant Panigrahi, a student based out of Bengaluru mentioned, “Roads in India are plagued with negligent and rash drivers who indulge in jay-driving and also have no regard for the pedestrians.” He said that on some crucial roads, there is an absence of zebra crossing, which forces pedestrians to jaywalk on the road. “Traffic cops offers no solution to this problem. Side-walks are overcrowded and are often occupied by small shops. It is really disheartening to go in crowded areas,” added Sukant.
Arjun Nair, a media student from Bengaluru humorously expressed:
“Being a pedestrian in Bengaluru is very exciting. You walk on a footpath, chances are that you may get hit by a bike. You approach cops to complain about it, you get hit by the gross reality.”
Non-Cooperative Cops
Abhishek, a final-year student of Christ University, had a similar opinion. He said, “I have seen how bad the attitude of cops is towards the pedestrians. The cops don’t pay heed to the complaint against bikers who ply through footpaths during traffic jams.”
Shivam Sharma, a resident of Pathankot said, “Overspeeding on narrow lanes and traffic rules mainly framed for motorists posses a clear threat of the pedestrians.” “The hit-and-run law is full of loopholes and needs to be addressed first,” said Kavya Parashar, a student from Guwahati. It is usually seen across the country that the traffic cops give more importance to motorists than pedestrians. Whenever the traffic police in any city or town of India frame rules, they usually forget the safety of pedestrians.
Although the traffic police department time and again made efforts to rectify the pedestrians’ misery on roads and has used social media as their effective tool in educating riders with traffic rules through very catchy and witty posts in reality, the post doesn’t provide any permanent relief and is usually seen as a “cool” police meme. Swaminathan S, a student from Delhi expressed his concern over this issue and said, “These memes or educational posts don’t provide any permanent relief to any pedestrian’s problem. This grave problem of awareness has been reduced just to some funky hashtags. The awareness is not implemented on roads and is only active in the digital world, not in the world of roads and traffic.” Assam Police recently used a photo in educating motorists about zebra crossings by using a photo captured by AFP photographer Biju Boro where an Elephant was seen crossing the zebra crossing, however, in a reality check throughout the city, the traffic cops themselves are not aware of what zebra crossing stands for. “It is the time to switch from cyberspace activism to ground-level activism for a solution to the menace of pedestrians,” added Swaminathan.
It is almost impossible to say at this point of time that the safety of pedestrians will be considered by policymakers in drafting road safety laws as we pedestrians were never considered a part of the road. If India needs free and smooth traffic as well as fewer accidents, then the rights of pedestrians should not be neglected. Social media handles of traffic police departments across India focus more on spreading awareness on road safety but they fail to educate their own people, which causes an inconvenience for the motorists as well as for the pedestrians. They should first look into educating the traffic cops; very few cops are well-versed with traffic laws.
We, pedestrians, are equal to the motorists!