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Urbanised highways cause most pedestrian fatalities in city: Expert
Even though the number of accidents involving pedestrians has reduced marginally over the years, arterial roads still prove to be deadly for them. Out of the 361 pedestrians who were killed in accidents, 20 arterial roads alone accounted for nearly 51 per cent of these fatalities.
Chennai
OMR is the deadliest claiming 29 lives while GST Road is the second (17 lives) and Poonamallee High Road and Velachery Main Road occupy the third place with 16 lives each.
All the roads that feature in the list are highways that have come into the urban setup. “Pedestrian facilities on urban highways are very minimal, be it footpaths or zebra crossings. These roads were originally designed for vehicles. With the city growing, these roads came into the urban setup. Now, they have to be redesigned considering the more vulnerable groups, i.e people walking and cycling as well. Wider footpaths, safe crossings and traffic calming measures are required,” Nashwa Naushad, Associate, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, said.
“ECR is such an urban highway with both commercial and residential properties, receiving a lot of footfall as well. Similarly, Anna Salai, OMR and EVR Periyar Salai also have changed the character and need to be redesigned from car-priority to people-friendly streets,” she added.
Despite the claims of making the city friendly for pedestrians by the city Corporation, the situation outside the malls, schools and other public places has not improved. Crossing the roads outside these facilities is still a nightmare for pedestrians due to the absence of zebra crossings or the inability of the authorities to enforce rules. They are also forced to walk on the road as sidewalks are dotted with obstacles like electric poles and parked vehicles.
This makes pedestrians the most vulnerable group among the road users in the city. In 2018, a little more than 27 per cent of fatal accidents involved pedestrians, killing 361 of them. More than 1,600 pedestrians were injured in accidents. Even though the traffic police maintain 415 zebra crossings, they are the most disregarded traffic rules and not enough to save pedestrians from speeding vehicles.
Experts said this is due to the policy that prioritises vehicles over pedestrians and improper planning. The latest example is VR mall that is built on an arterial road. The main users of the mall are people from Anna Nagar. Without any pedestrian crossings outside the mall, they have to go all the way around the flyover (nearly 700 metres) when they enter or exit the mall. “An arterial road is primarily meant for traffic. The busy 100ft Road is an example, which serves as a key bus route, especially to reach the Madhavaram Bus Stand. A mall off such a road creates a lot of friction due to heavy movement of vehicles in and out of the mall, creating a bottleneck. It is also difficult to reach the mall on foot due to the absence of a crossing. An alternate circulation plan and solution for entrance/exit is needed,” Nashwa said.
She added that safe pedestrian crossings should be provided. “We should take the flyover’s end into consideration while designing the crossing, such that vehicle speed is controlled and pedestrians are not harmed”, she concluded.
However, the police claim that the increase in road safety awareness is the way to decrease accidents. “Even though we have deployed additional strength in accident hotspots, only if the public is aware of the road rules and adhere to them, accidents can be prevented,” a senior officer said.
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