Inability To Ensure Pedestrian And Road Safety Hampering Development In Bangalore

The roads in the city of Bangalore are expected to be wide and allow more traffic to move seamlessly. However, as the roads become wide, there is no particular order as to how the pedestrians will move. Although there are lanes for the traffic to move, no one follows their lane when there is space to tuck in two cars ahead. Well, the news is, it has begun taking a toll on the people with multiple deaths marring the efficiency of the idea. Vehicles keep moving without thought or process and hurt other drivers and the pedestrians too. The move five years ago to decongest roads has succeeded only narrowly.

The Bangalore Development Authority and the Municipal Corporation of the city, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike transformed the roads to match international standards. However, they forgot one very crucial fact. Indians are never good with following rules in their country. As per data provided by the Traffic Department of Bangalore, the shocking information came to light. There was a steep rise of the number of accidents resulting in fatalities in the city. The busiest roads got busy snatching lives from all possible avenues. A cursory look at the condition of the traffic will show how lax the drivers are with their lives and that of others.

Some of the most dangerous and busiest roads here are the Madivala Outer Ring Road junction, Hosur Road, Varthur Main Road that runs along the Outer Ring Road and the Bannerghatta Outer Ring Road Junction. There have been 1085 pedestrians who lost their lives while 3123 people are reported to have suffered severe injuries. Instead of making good their promise of decongesting traffic, they have jeopardized the lives of others who walk the roads. It has caused the damage to the mobility to several people around the city who have to give way to the perceived rights of the motorists over the widened roads.

The information about the disturbing information about how pedestrians are growing anxious about crossing roads prompted responsible citizens and residents to file an RTI that resulted in the information. Instead of providing any facilities for the pedestrians, the civic administration merely widened the roads and left it at that. In the end, the lack of footpaths, pelican lights and even the basic zebra crossing forces them to wade through heavy traffic at peak times. Tempers run high around the time, and people get hurt or worse, end up dead.

The ironical parts about the whole situation are the establishment of underpasses at junctures where it is absolutely unnecessary and hardly ever used. However, they clearly ignore the need for the establishment of safety features in the highly travelled roads in the city. Widening roads to suit the purpose of motorists alone is like digging a well to drench the ground at times of drought while people wander in thirst. It would be better if the civic authorities take more interest in their duties, completely as opposed to thinking mostly to reduce work and enhance income.