A divider has been put on on the Jaymahal Main Road. This divider has quite a height making it really difficult for the walkers/pedestrains to cross the road!! The pedestrain/walker faces problem as there is no place for the person o cross, one has to literally jump over the divider in order to cross the road, thus risking one's life as there is heavy traffic on both the sides of the road, making it even worse for the older people and women!
It would be of real relief if there was a little gap in the dividers, so that road crossing om Jaymahal Main Road is no more a pain!!
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I think they heard you
Today on my way back from office, i noticed pneumatic drills being used to cut the newly made concrete dividers on jayamahal road for pedestrain crossings. Will try to post photos in a day or two. I don't get their logic of first building the entire divider(2.5 ft) without any provision for pedestrain crossings. And then the very next day get out the pneumatic drills and start breaking them. And i guess the dividers are made under B-TRAC project. Is the traffic police/BBMP made of idiots of the highest order? Do they understand the word planning? Or this a ploy to make money out of the contracts, in the process wasting tax payers money wealth. Who do we hold responsible for such callous attitude?
Vinod
why build such tall dividers at all?
The design is sick and causes more harm than anything..peaceful localities getting divided by the 'walls'!
Pedestrains life is put to risk just to give the motorists that limited rush in adrenalin..till the next signal..
why dont they reduce the number of vehicles on roads..then all these petty needs for dividers will automatically vanish..
Enough about the dividers
This topic has been discussed multiple times on praja, the first discussion dates back to several months ago when they first started putting up these dividers. Every single time it's the same argument - someone comes in and starts a topic about how the dividers are making road-crossing difficult for the "older people and women". First, I take offence to the fact that you include women in the same category as older people. Do women need special attention/help crossing roads? I would assume, that being a woman, rachitha, you wouldn't say something that ludicrious. Aren't women just as capable as men in practically every respect? Or are you just used to getting special treatment based on the fact that you are female?
Second, you fail to see the fact that pedestrians are not supposed to just randomly run across the road at whatever point they feel like. Bangaloreans have gotten too used to doing this, and it needs to change. Pedestrians are supposed to cross at a pedestrian crossing or at a traffic light (or at the overhead walkways/pedestrian subways, where they exist). I understand that sometimes the crossings are not close by, and the standard excuse used by most people is "old people and women can't walk large distances to the nearest crossing". What about other countries, where jaywalking is illegal and EVERYONE has to cross at designated crossings? Do they not have elderly people there? I have lived in places abroad where you get fined if a policeman catches you dashing across the road. At least things aren't that extreme here - you won't get fined, AND BBMP has cut down the medians at regular intervals in most places where they have the tall medians to allow people to cross. Is this not enough? Or is walking to the nearest depression in the median too hard for people?
In response to vinod's comment, I think there is a logical explanation for them laying the medians and then cutting them down at regular intervals. If they left gaps in the median in the first place, two wheelers would use these gaps to make illegal U-turns (this seems to happen almost everywhere there's an old-style divider with a gap). But if they lay the whole median and cut it down to 1/2 or 1/4 height in places, the median is low enough for people to step over, but too high for two wheelers to move across.
To sum up, the road isn't there for people to run across - it's primary use is to allow efficient movement of vehicles. In that regard, I think the medians have been extremely helpful. People no longer can cross over to the wrong side of the road in order to overtake, causing bottlenecks for drivers coming the other way. It's because of the indiscipline of Bangalore drivers that they have had to resort to these tall medians, and they do work. Yes, this means that people can't make U-turns as and when they please, but that is part of the idea! You can drive an additional 500-600m to the traffic signal and make your U-turn there. I really dont get the comment about "peaceful localities getting divided by the walls". Try to think of the traffic situation as a whole, not just about yourself.
Pedesrian harassment
Pedestrian should have the right to cross the roads every 100 meters. They dont have to walk half kilometer to cross the roads for the comfort of the vehicle owners. By the same logic sky walks are not acceptable for the pedestrians. Why cannot people going in cars stop for a few minutes to let the pedestrians cross the road. The disuse of skywalks and underpasses is the right protest of the pedestrian against injustice. Why should they climb up or down 30 feet so that traffic is not disrupted.
Ped xing
Pedestrian should have the right to cross the roads every 100 meters
See IRC specs for pedestrians here. All we have to do is ensure this is followed. These anywhere-I-feel-like-crossing-brainwaves are due to the frustration of not seeing what should already have been implemented.
Come on, can't cross anywhere you wish
Go to the nearest ped-cross point, then cross, and then walk up to your destination. One can't expect to cross from the point closest to the destination across the road. As IDS says, best to simply follow IRC, its all there.
The hard dividers are actually here to save injuries and lives. As an example, on 9th main JP Nagar, before the hard divider came in, whenever I paused a bit to let pedestrians or 2-wheelers go (who crossed anywhere and everywhere), the vehicle behind would just speed around me (instead of slowing down behind me) and put the crossing two wheeler or pedestrian in danger. Now, those over-eager vehicles have no option but to wait behind me, thanks to the hard divider.
But yes, at the crossing points, the divider needs to have that gap, which is something that may have been missed earlier and has now been corrected at many points.
Another point - people usually cross near bus stops. Having ped-xings near all bus stops may not be feasible, but at least near the intersections, or crowded/popular bus stands, there need to be markings and walkways across dividers for peds to cross.
Barriers
Got hoarse enough saying the same thing - physical, non-surmountable barriers are needed for uniquely Indian mindset of not following any rules unless forced. Barrier between motorised vehicles and cycles where possible and definitely for "pedestrians" :-/. May be Naveen's idea of a partial subway can be seriously looked at.
Faster/cheaper to form the concrete than to cut it later.