A pedestrian response?!

The mowing down of the school going 19 year old Arpita & others in Hebbal has caused severe consternation amongst people in Bangalore. The driver has been reported as saying he was new to the city & was looking for a signboard which could tell him the directions to where he needs to go and that diverted his attention from the signal in front of him. This happened at a location where hundreds cross everyday to access public transport and facilities like schools & hospitals. It is right at the bottom of a down ramp of the elevated flyover where vehicles are driving in excess of 80kmph. There are no warnings ahead of time within breaking distance for vehicles to slow down in decrements and no rumble strips which can arrest the speed. No signboards which tell people which lane to stay in ahead of time. The signboards if any will appear after its too late to change directions or lanes. One audit for compliance to any IRC guidelines will put not only our city infrastructure but even national highways to shame.

This incident has become the proverbial last straw in a sequence of apathetic provisioning of infrastructure by the BBMP & BDA in Bangalore. These organizations have been pumping many 1000 crores into infrastructure over the past decade and leading the city into worse situation than ever. Drain cleaning has lead to more deaths during monsoon, Road building is killing more people on the roads, Signal free corridors are creating more chaos & signals everywhere. This is good money after bad & the authorities are either incapable or are taking the people for a ride on their cost & lives. It is time for a drastic change and people have to be at the forefront of demanding respect for their life. Enough of playing with our money & lives. They need to be made criminally culpable.

The development story in poor and middle income countries is increasingly being hijacked by the private vehicle while basic necessities, health, education etc which makes us human is taking a back seat. Car sales have zoomed as have accident levels and pollution. While India & China have an accident rate around 20 fatalities per 100,000 population, Sweden revolves around 3. There are enough statistics to show that the countries which invented the automobile have continually improved the infrastructure & policies to safeguard lives in parallel while the developing countries like ours have imported only the vehicle ignoring infrastructural improvements & cultivating unsafe practices.

While the actual reasons to resist change is a danger to the way these agencies have been operating and selfishly benefiting from, typical excuses provided to the public to resist change are one or more the following

1. It as a cultural or behavioral trait, we are like this only – No, It’s a bad habit we are encouraging and will remain so unless we put in place measures to get rid of the bad habit.
2. Too many people, they are bound to get hurt - Variations of this include, traffic is slowing because of people etc. These statements are insensitive at worst and betray a primate mentality unbecoming of a civilized society. It’s difficult to imagine that the bursting streets of Tokyo, with a population of more than 13 million, are safer for pedestrians than Detroit, which has a population less than 100,000.
3. But vehicles need to go faster as well – Not at the cost of safety to pedestrians & cyclists. After them Public transport takes priority & then private transport. This priority is exactly in reverse right now, If this is not understood & ingrained we are losing the plot.
4. But development? – Development is more than allowing the car to dominate the quality of life. Its about safety, human dignity, livelihood, health, education, relationships etc. If safety can be achieved only by everyone enclosing themselves around 1 tonne of metal we will be worse off than we are now.
5. We cant stop road development – Yes we can!  Congestion is one of the tools to change bad behavior. It is a tool for communicating and instilling good sustainable practices. With a very low percapita car ownership & huge headroom to grow we cant build our way out of this. If we cannot see this future now there will only be roads left in the city, no life & no destination left worth reaching.

If the administrators truly believe safety is not fixable in India then they have to admit they are incompetent primates or that their counterparts in the developed world are intelligent Martians.

What are the solutions we have?

Vision - First is to adopt a vision and make sure every policy or work that is executed on the ground is evaluated along those terms.

In 1997 the Swedish parliament wrote into law a "Vision Zero" plan, promising to eliminate road fatalities and injuries altogether. "We simply do not accept any deaths or injuries on our roads," says Hans Berg of the national transport agency. Swedes believe—and are now proving—that they can have mobility and safety at the same time.

It is important for the government to adopt an equivalent vision zero policy. All departments involved in building any kind of infrastructure need to ask this question “Is what I am doing today getting me towards a vision zero?”

Priority – Instill a priority of accessibility. All infrastructure will first provide space for pedestrians & cyclists with green cover, then Public transport & if any space is left it will be allocated to Private vehicles. This needs to be codified and a measure that every infrastructure will be evaluated by. The prompt comeback will be we cant do this on all the roads. The answer will be why then are we continuing to approve layouts which do not allow this? If people cannot walk or take public transport why do you build houses at all on such streets? There needs to be an immediate stop to all layouts which build roads less than 40ft, which do not have main roads which can take public transport, which do no provide uninterrupted and safe walkability/cyclability to utilities and local trips. STOP all approvals and revisit the entire city on how best to accommodate pedestrians & public transport. Lets not be under any illusion that this will mean a disincentive to private transport, that’s precisely what will make the situation any better, nothing else will. Better late than never.

Engineering – Uninterrupted walkability or cyclability – Have you ever seen a road which ends all of a sudden? Or have you seen roads which become mud tracks at 100m intervals? No? Why then do pedestrians & cyclists find footpaths disappear suddenly, or they have to climb on to a high sidewalk? Why are they left with no safe crossing at intersections? Why do pedestrians have to walk on drain covers with transformers & poles obstructing them? Why do they have to walk on a small piece of slab so close to the compound that the plants from the houses get into their face? Why are there no sheltered bus or auto stands which can be reached without putting lives at risk?

There is something called the Indian Roads Congress which lays down standards. It has been improved upon by other organizations like TenderSURE, UTTIPEC etc. Following the guidelines to the T & improving upon it to satisfy the vision should be the sole aim of these organizations. There is no reason or excuse for bypassing even a single IRC guideline. It’s should be the law. Any infrastructure that is built has to be audited for appropriate usability & safety by citizens. It has to pass an IRC compliance audit. Otherwise it shouldn’t be commissioned at all

Responsibility for commons – Every piece of shared infrastructure outside the private plot/house is the responsibility that the people have entrusted to paid administrators. Its usage is expected to be monitored on a daily basis by the agencies like BBMP & BDA either by themselves or by agencies they have contracted. They may make anyone responsible but the accountability buck stops with them. A system should be put in place where they cannot bypass this job description and instead engage with the citizens in the ward for monitoring & reporting issues. If an issue is not fixed within a specified timeframe the ward engineers should be held accountable for the repercussions of ignoring the task. This ongoing monitoring & engaging with the citizens to make their ward safe forms the bedrock of a healthy democracy leading to safer streets & a better community.

Related reports

Deccan Herald

The accident: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/462200/bengaluru-water-tanker-mows-down.html (video)

The outrage: http://www.deccanherald.com/videos/watch/8852/hebbal-protests-accident.html (video)

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/462481/enraged-students-residents-demand-skywalk.html

Potential hazard: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/462445/many-schools-dreaded-stretch.html

Blame game: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/462446/no-agency-walked-talk-skywalk.html

Aftermath:

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/462441/chikkaballapur-family-grieves-cruel-death.html

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/462438/arpitha-laid-rest-not-far.html

Other deaths: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/462432/2-pedestrians-run-over.html

Times of India: http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31806&articlexml=Citizens-fury-over-girls-death-jams-Ballari-Road-28022015001039