Raka Choudhury on pedestrian accessibility in the National Capital ...

INDIA’S ROAD SAFETY: IN NUMBERS
! Every year some 1.3 million people die on the
world’s roads = 3,500 every day
A PEDESTRIAN’S PERSPECTIVE
OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
REGION
! INDIA: Accounts for 12% of all road deaths
! This is >400 deaths every day
! 3-4 times that number are injured
! How many are left permanently disabled?
<strong>Raka</strong> <strong>Choudhury</strong> 24-05-2012
! How many are NOT reported?
Creating Better Facilities for Non Motorized
Transport Users
INDIA’S ROAD SAFETY: IN NUMBERS (CONTD.)
! Not all Road Deaths are on National and State
Highways
! 2010 Statistics from MoRTH
! National Highway Deaths: 36%
! State Highway Deaths: 27%
! This means 37% of all Road Deaths are happening on
urban and rural roads, not highways
! CAUSES for Road Deaths:
WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT
PEDESTRIANS AND NMT?
! Drivers’ Fault: 75%
! Within this- ‘Exceeding lawful speed’ accounted for 58.3%
! Cyclists: 1.3%
! Pedestrians: 2.6%

SPEED KILLS!
BUT…
FREE FLOW, SIGNAL- FREE TRAFFIC
FREE LEFT TURNS FOR VEHICULAR TRAFFIC
In densely-populated urban areas, we continue to:
! Prioritize cars and other motorized vehicles
! Put the onus for pedestrian safety on the pedestrian
! At the same time, provide inadequate facilities for
pedestrians
FREE FLOW, SIGNAL- FREE TRAFFIC
U-TURNS AND FREE LEFTS INSTEAD OF SIGNALIZED RIGHT
TURNS
WE PRIORITIZE
VEHICULAR TRAFFIC ON
URBAN STREETS

FREE FLOW, SIGNAL- FREE TRAFFIC
UNDERPASSES AND FLYOVERS
LARGE TURNING RADII AT INTERSECTIONS
ALLOW CARS TO TURN WITHOUT SLOWING
DOWN
Gurgaon, Haryana
FREE FLOW, SIGNAL- FREE TRAFFIC
UNDERPASSES AND FLYOVERS
TIGHTEN KERB CORNER RADIUS TO SLOW
TRAFFIC DOWN
Washington, DC

ACCESSING THE HUDA CITY METRO STATION
HOW WE PUT THE ONUS ON
PEDESTRIANS
" SCALE- Is this much road really necessary?
" FREE LEFT TURNS
" TURNING RADII- So large that easy to turn without the need to slow
down
" TRIAL & ERROR Traffic Mgmt- Two-way to One-way to two-way at
night
ACCESSING THE HUDA CITY METRO STATION
ROAD SAFETY PRESENTATION BY MORTH
Source:
Safe Passage for Pedestrians
" REMOVE Free Left Turns
" Reduce turning radius to reduce speed
" Provide obstruction-free pedestrian refuge at Medians
" Add High Visibility Crosswalks CLOSE to the intersection
Figure out if this side is one way
or two-way and design
accordingly!
! Lots of good information and progressive
thoughts for pedestrian amenities:
! Shortest path for crossing
! Crossing at grade v/s foot over bridges
! Visibility to drivers
! Shady trees for comfort during summer
! Convenience of pedestrians
! Facilities for disabled

BUT…
Lists “Factors Contributing to Pedestrian
Accidents”:
o When crossing a road combination of :
• Failure of initial judgment
BEFORE I MOVE ON FROM THE TOPIC OF SPEED….
! “A car travelling at 50 km/h will typically require 13 meters
in which to stop, while a car travelling at 40 km/h will stop in
less than 8.5 meters”
--World Health Organization
• Failure to modify behavior of pedestrians
o Many pedestrian involved in an accident didn’t see
the vehicle, many of these were saying that they saw
the vehicle too late
o Normally, pedestrian crashes occur near the bus stop
! If you were a pedestrian crossing (LEGALLY) when a
speeding car spots you from 10 meters away, wouldn’t you
rather that the driver was driving at 40 km/h and not 50 km/
h?
PRESENTATION ALSO SAYS “ DON’T VIOLATE
TRAFFIC RULES” WITH THIS IMAGE
Over the 16 or so
kilometers between the
Delhi-Gurgaon and
42 nd Milestone toll
plazas, there are only
three pedestrian bridges
and one subway.
Lack of attention to
adjacent land uses
Need for inter-agency
coordination? How?
WHAT ARE THE PEDESTRIAN
FACILITIES THAT WE ARE
PROVIDING?

SIDEWALKS- NON EXISTENT
SIDEWALKS: POOR QUALITY
" Between Sikanderpur Metro and Cyber City
" 100,000 Office Workers
" Easy Walking Distance - Approximately 1km From The Metro
Station
AGAIN ON THE SECTOR ROAD TO CYBER CITY
GURGAON’S SIDEWALKS- RANGE FROM BAD...

TO WORSE…
AND IT’S NOT JUST GURGAON
" Maintenance is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL
TO WORST!
WHAT IS THE HEIGHT OF THIS FOOTPATH IN
NOIDA?

WHAT IS THE HEIGHT OF THIS FOOTPATH IN
NOIDA?
CROSSWALKS
WE DO HAVE SOME SEAMLESS, WELL-
MAINTAINED SIDEWALKS
CROSSWALKS

CROSSWALKS
SOME GOOD EXAMPLES
SOME GOOD EXAMPLES
COULD WE ACTIVATE OUR SIDEWALKS?

GET RID OF HIGH OPAQUE WALLS TO MAKE IT
A SAFE AND INTERESTING WALK?
OR WOULD YOU PREFER THIS?
WOULD YOU LIKE TO WALK HERE?
THE PROBLEM WITH OUR FOOTPATHS AND
CROSSWALKS
! Physical barriers
! Begins and ends suddenly
! Obstructions
! Height of sidewalks and Disability Access
! Quality
! Considerations for local climate?
! Activated?
! Maintenance

LET’S SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT ACCESSIBILITY
Mobility-based planning tends to evaluate transport system
performance based largely on traffic speeds and so favors
automobile-oriented transport improvement.
Accessibility-based planning considers other impacts and options….
If transportation is evaluated based on accessibility [people’s overall
TO SUMMARIZE AND CONCLUDE
ability to reach desired goods, services and activities], additional
transportation improvement options can be considered [besides
roadway, rideshare and public transit], including improved walking
and cycling conditions.
-Todd Litman, VTPI
CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND
ENVIRONMENT FINDINGS FOR DELHI
CONCLUSIONS
! Total number of daily car trips in Delhi - 3 million
! Walking and cycling - 8 million
! Cycling trips - 2.8 million (almost equal to car trips)
! Prioritize pedestrians over the need for speed
! Design Urban Roads to Slow Traffic Down-
educate traffic engineers that pedestrian
facilities are not “landscaping”
! So, why are our pedestrians and cyclists being
ignored?
! Provide Pedestrian Amenities- if you build it
properly, they will follow traffic rules
! Coordinate with Land Use Planners (and include
them in training workshops).

FINAL THOUGHTS
! Please spend a week car-free (or any other private transport
mode-free). Or one day every week for 6 months car-free.
! Impossible to fully understand and address the needs of
pedestrians unless you experience what they experience
daily.
Questions and Comments?
Thank you!