Bangalore is such a civilized city populated by the highly educated working class. But in most civilized cities around the world motorists, motorcyclists, scooterists ... give the right of way to pedestrians, but alas not in Bangalore. Why is this so?
To illustrate a point. I was recently in California, as an invitee to the Stanford University, Palo Alto. The morning walks required I cross the famous El Camino Real highway. Crossing an exit is a dangerous experience. But each time all manner of folks would stop their car and wave to me to cross over. What humility. And I am certain half these folks were not as educated as our gentile in Bangalore. Few folks go to college in the US.
In Bangalore the abusive horns of our motorists seem to shout at high pitch, "move out, or be run over". What a shame.
I have aged and cannot move out fast. I am not angry, but I feel sad. My wife keeps reminding me to look out. And I even have to do so for cyclists.
Recently I was in one of the developing countries on a lecture tour. And I saw quite a few signs put up by the police telling motorists, "Stop. Give right of way to Pedestrians". And one sign was most touching. It said, "Wont you please slow down. My father is working on the road renovation project. We need him to come home".
Can or will our schools and colleges send a message on this civic sense? Can or will Bangalore Police do something? Can or will older generations like us appeal to our children?
My beautiful Bangalore, when will you let Pedestrians have the right of way first?
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Comments
Pedestrians out number motorists
I had a similar traumatic experience when I was back from my first and the last visit to the United States in 2002. It took me almost 6 months to return to my normal feeling being in India. Bangalore being touted as a beautiful garden city has the best of its localities comparable to the Mexican neighborhood in the US.
US and other developed countries are far ahead of the standard of living in India. But there is no need to despair. We are trying to catch up. Here in India Pedestrians out number the motorists. Motorists will have to pile up to allow pedestrians the right of way in a busy traffic. At traffic signals pedestrians do get a chance to cross safely most of the time.
Pedestrians plight sad
Pedestrians rights should be paramount. They are not pumping in 1500 tonnes of petroleum POLLUTANTS- almost 25 percent of the 6000 tonnes per day- into Bangalore's already polluted air, every time they go out. It is the two wheelers who snake and sneak in and out of traffic that are a major hazard.
I hear a lot about driver education and creating awareness. It is rubbish. I have known horrible drivers crib about others doing exactly what they theselves do, fail to yield to pedestrians, jump redlights, make sudden left/right , u turns without signals and from the wrong direction, violate sarcosanct one way rules, honk their heads off etc.
I have seen similar behavior in Newjersey a state with heavy Indian, hsipanic population.
It is the mindset. Rules are made to be broken is one I hear often. Rules are for others,the ones who donot know any better- which is you can get away with breaking it!
or go to the extent of bribing the official 50 percent of what the fine is and boast about it as an accomplishment.
Lack of enforcement- strict ,sure, or quick is the reason. If they were mercilessly fined then they would learn their lessons. Drivers are misusing a privilege provided by the society. It does not have to permit. It does as a concession, because it pays a heavy price in terms of pollution, congestion, health, heavy damages from loss of lives accidents etc.
Improve enforcement with citizens involvement- deputize them to issue citations as special police officers- if need be.
very sad indeed
Srivathsa and I were talking today after Mr Sood meeting, that we probably need a project to isolate the "gene" that may be missing in our race. Why is it that we are in perennial rush, yet are mostly know to be "late" people. Why, in general, we are not considerate to people around us?
Strict enforcement is not why people behave better on roads and with pedestrians. It is something else about us which can't be just fixed by police and enforcement. Jumping queues, talking loud, losing temper in public, etc etc - all these probably come from lack of or presence of that same 'gene' that causes our shameful behavior on our roads.
cant wriggle out of every jam..
We grew too fast and that could be the reason the gene remains dormant..yesterday near Basavanaudi there was this traffic warden tryin to do her best managing a junction in the evening drizzle..
She had an altercation with an auto guy who violated her signals makin the jam worse..by the time he wriggled out of the jam..he was giggling with his passengers about the lady warden...
Yesterday it took few min to get out..soon that will be many minutes and probably thats when the gene will become active and some order creeps in..
Btw amongst all these jams..pedestrians are some what safe as the menacing vehicles are stuck badly and stationary!
Gene maybe, but tolerant environment more likely cause
We specialize in that violator glare
How many of us have not experienced the violator's glare filled with arrogance, at the other party as if the innocent is the violator?
compounded with the inability to initiate action against the violator and the futility of such action causes road rage
-ರಸ್ತೆ ರೋಷ /ರಸ್ತೆ ರೊಚ್ಚು-
It is in no way helped by the prevalent attitude of the enforcing authorities that complainants are trouble makers!
'Why, o, why?'
Why is it we follow and strictly adhere to the rule book abroad and the minute we are home throw it away, and return to our non-caring selfish ways, especially with respect to following traffic rules, giving way to pedestrains , honking , standing in the queue etc ? Why? Can a doctor, social scientist explain this?
Abuse of Democracy
Why is it we follow and strictly adhere to the rule book abroad and the minute we are home throw it away
I call it abuse of democracy. Some of it is ignorance because nobody taught us how to use roads when they gave us license and the BBMP dont know how to build geometrical infrastructure with proper facilities, rest purely because one can get away with it.
As far as I can remember roads meant path for anything to move, from dogs, humans, non motorized vehicles to motor vehicles, i call it the 'pathway culture'. The footpath was an alien concept relegated to the British areas. Now we realize the need to segregate types of traffic but the footpath remains a lip service since the both the builder & users grew on the 'pathway culture'. Only the people who have been abroad know what the footpath means. People coming from where footpath is a luxury still believe roads are for walking and footpath is like a margin in the book used only for making the road look good. Nobody actually uses the footpath and then demands it be uninterrupted. I encourage all in this thread to start a movement to regain walking on the footpath.
I can tell you every time I come back from a trip outside the country the impulse is to use the footpath, but the minute I get on I have to get off due to some obstruction, after a while I give up even trying to get on. So I am forcibly inducted into the 'pathway culture' and have to give up all pretences of trying to be 'proper'
Now again there is difference between standing up for pedestrians, asking for footpath facilities and believing that walking on the road means you have right of way. I have seen most people mistake one for the other. Right of way exists only on crossings not for walking on the roads. If you are walking on the road and not on the foot path you are infringing on the vehicles right of way (in most countries since this is an exception they ignore and wait for you to get off the road). If you are crossing to get to the other side only then the vehicle has to stop & give you way. We have to re-fashion our jugaadu 'pathway culture' infrastructure to enable this kind of structured behaviour.
Genetic or culture?
I think this whole business is what constitutes "culture". Rules are not for us. Think of one of our weddings. Everything is ad -hoc. Everybody above a certain aqe is in charge and the whole event is on the verge of collapse, but somehow, miraculously, it works.
I think the same thing works in all aspects of our life. I am facing an example that is baffling. My part of town got very decent footpaths fairly recently. By any standards, the footpath is very walkable (although, there is potential for improvement), reasonably wide considering the average pedestrian traffic. Yet, almost everyday, there are people who prefer to walk on the road skirting the cars that are parked right under no-parking signs, converting a busy 4 lane road to a 2 lane potential accident zone; while a perfectly good footpath exists right there!
Infra+habit=consistency
Yet, almost everyday, there are people who prefer to walk on the road ...while a perfectly good footpath exists right there!
Have you noticed if 5% people walk the footpath at least 70% more tend to follow? The rest 25% will never bother unless they are in danger of getting mowed down and see the footpath as a more convienient option. How does a person who never had access to a footpath begin to use one? He observes what others are doing. If everybody else is on the road he knows it is okay to walk on the road. Broken window syndrome. So its not enough to just have footpath people should be seen to be using it.
How do you make your kid drink milk every day? You have to first force him to drink it and if he doesnt like the taste you put additives to sell it. The favourite additives is the cutest message he hears on TV. On a daily basis you reinforce the drinking with a combination of threats & benefits. All the while you took the availability of milk for granted wherever you go. If you moved to a new place and didnt have milk for a consistently long period of time the habit is useless. It will go into disuse and he will stop it. It will be an uphill task to get him back on to it. On the otherhand just because milk was available he may not start drinking on his own unless some other kid with the habit starts to drink in his presence. He will want to do it as well just to be in with the mob. He will even gulp it in without the additives. So presence of milk wherever he is in the morning is the first requirement to cultivate a consistent habit. There are many ways to make the habit stick if the milk was around.
Simple: Society tolerates violator's insolent arrogance.
Simple, the Indian society tolerates the B*** S***. The violator's glare is reserved by the other society's to the violator, not the otherway round. If that does not work- it will not in India because every one stares all the time- you can be sure atleast one of the bystanders or watchers will tell the violator.
If he still doesnot listen, the registration number will be passed on to the police who will fine him positively, within minutes or definitely with in the week.
Here, you will probably find the violator on your door step breaking your glasses or damaging your property, after the police leaked your identity to him!
footpath obstructions
Check this
New Foot paths
On the 9th Main opp. to Indiranagar Club foot paths were made recently at a huge cost (several lakhs). Within a distance of 200/300 metrs there are 8 cuts in the foot paths on either side of the road necessitating a climb down and climb up of 18 inches everytime. Even these footpaths are mostly encroached by the shop keepers.
On the CMH road, after completion of METRO work bet. Old Madras road and Double road new foot paths are being constructed with the same deficiencies as above. Here in fact only concrete slabs have been used to cover the shoulder drains which are meant to be used by pedestrians.
Nowhere any Norms/Codes are being followed. The whole expenditure is a huge waste of public money for constucting only hurdles and obstacles to pedestrians in the name of 'Foot Paths'.
K.V.Pathy
Pedestrian route
BBMP passed a slew of projects in the council one of them is interesting
"Development of eight pedestrian routes at about Rs 800 crore by BDA"
Wonder what this is?
Road to bliss
Newly built Vittal Mallya Road
After all the expense, notice where the people are walking... on the road!!! not on the multi million rupee sidewalk created for them
Not Surprising !
Vittal Mallya rd is not very wide, nor are it's sidewalks. Unless many streets have good, wide & neat pedestrian paths & facilities, none will pick up the habit of using them as a matter of course since they are accustomed to walking on the street on almost all other roads anyway.
This reaffirms the fact that a few sporadic instances of building good sidewalks or such other discipline imposing moves will not be enough to change people's habits. If a majority of the streets in the area have similar facilities coupled with enforcement measures with wardens, we might see some improvement.
Nothing happens automatically !
Foot Paths & Bus Shelters
Foot paths & Bus Shelters
Our Transport Minister Mr. Ashoka is setting an example by riding BMTC buses on Bus Days. I request him to alight at the bus stop in front of BBMP Main office on the next Bus Day and take a walk on the foot path .He will find how, due to lack of coordination between different BBMP depts constructing Foot Paths and Bus shelters,(leave alone BMTC & Traffic Police), the three/four shelters have been built completely blocking the foot path, that too at varying levels upto 2ft above road level.
These are neither useful to pedestrians nor to bus commuters who have to stand on the roadexposed to the risk of being hit by the buses, which stop anywhere other than by the side of the shelters.
I am sure he will instruct the concerned Depts to coordinate and build usable foot paths and shelters of suitable designs by widening the width wherever needed.
Construction of such anti-pedestrian and anti- commuter Bus Shelters mushrooming all over the City at least- needed locations blocking the foot paths should be stopped immediately and the wastage of resources, whether from BBMP or the advertisers (who any way recover the expenditure from the consumers adding to inflation), be avoided.
K.V.Pathy