Pedestrians are an endangered species on city roads

BENGALURU: Around half the people dying on the city's roads are pedestrians. The City Traffic Police's records show that of the 2,396 people who died in road accidents from 2014 to 2017 (till February), 1,044 were pedestrians. While 55 pedestrians died in January and February this year, the number was marginally low last year: Of the 793 people killed, 320 were pedestrians (40%) and 381 twowheeler riders (48%).
During the three years, the number of deaths of two-wheeler riders and pillion riders was marginally higher than pedestrian deaths. It stood at 1,094. In 2014, people who died on two-wheelers numbered 332, while pedestrian deaths stood at 331.

Besides fatal accidents, cases of injuries in road accidents involving pedestrians was 4,093 during the period. The data also show that fourwheelers and two-wheelers were involved in most accidents.

The data indicated that fatal road accidents were more on arterial roads in peripheral areas. The Yelahanka traffic police reported the highest number of fatal accidents (59 in 2016 and 16, till now, in 2017), followed by Hosur Road in Electronics City (53 in 2016 and 11 in Jan and Feb of 2017). KR Puram (43), Airport (27), Hebbal (30), Chikkajala (40) and Devanahalli (39) showed high incidence of fatal accidents.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R Hithendra agreed that pedestrians are most vulnerable road-users. “We have identified black spots: Hosur Road, Old Madras Road, Outer Ring Road and KR Puram. We are taking measures to reduce accidents,“ he said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (TrafficEast) Abhishek Goyal also apportioned blame to pedestrians who jaywalk. “We have asked the municipal corporation to raise the height of road medians, making it impossible for jaywalking,“ he said.

Urban mobility expert V Ravichander suggested that authorities introduce `traffic calming measures' for the safety of pedestrians.“While arterial roads should have skywalks, all the other roads must feature pedestrian crossings, where vehicles stop for at least 30 seconds for pedestrians to cross. The mindset `motorist is king' and `pedestrian is helpless' should change,“ he said.