Pedestrians’ Progress

The year long  stay in central London gave me an opportunity to walk and discover the city on foot. The wide and accessible foot paths and zebra crossings made the experience enjoyable. As I walked across Hyde Park and enjoyed the sun in Russell square, I could imagine how walks might have inspired Darwin to think about evolution and walks around Salzburg gave Mozart’s music the edge that retains its popularity even today.

Increased awareness about impact of vehicular pollution on the environment has made it even more important to nudge people to walk and cycle more. In developed regions of the world Pedestrians are given their due and a fair share of the road. Though etymologically the word pedestrian is from Latin and meant ‘plain and not versified’ with respect to prose in comparison to poetry and ‘on foot’ as opposed to ‘on horseback’ which was considered better, pedestrians have progressed and people now take pride in calling themselves pedestrian!

 On my return I still endevour to clock at least 15000 steps on my Fitbit. I pack my walking shoes when I travel for work as well as when am on holiday. However, I have realized that  pedestrians face infrastructural as well as attitudinal challenges in cities and towns as varied as Ranchi, Delhi, Patna and Kochi.

While many roads lack proper pavements, even when they are present, our lack of civic sense converts them into roads or parking spaces. Our love for street food and fresh vegetables spills on to our pavements and we have people hawking everything from chaat to bedsheets!

Where there are zebra crossings, drivers don’t consider it important to stop before the Zebra crossing. To be a pedestrian in India therefore one has to be adventurous to a fault.

On a more serious note, one hears and reads about people run over by bikes, trucks and autorickshaws as they were ambling on the side or worse, waiting to cross the road. A report in Times of India says  how in2017 , on an average 56 pedestrians got killed every day*. The number must have only increased since that time.

There is a serious need to increase awareness and make motorists be more respectful of pedestrians. Along with better enforcement, citizens too should play their part in trying to bring about change in attitudes. This state of pedestrians exists even as the National Urban Transport Policy states that pedestrians and cyclists must have segregated pathways to ensure their safety and convenience, which would also then serve as important feeders to public transport terminals in the city.

 It also recognizes the fact that the existing footpaths in our cities fail to provide safety or encouragement for pedestrians to walk as they are badly designed, without an understanding of what pedestrians really need. The latest Smart City Mission guidelines also state that walkable localities are a key feature in the making of a smart city. Organisations like Sum Net ( Sustainable Urban Mobility Network) are trying to make India more walkable through advocacy and outreach programmes.

With the hope that one day in the not so distant future I will walk on pavements lined with Jacaranda and Coral Jasmine, I walk to office ignoring the ‘Istriwali’around the corner and her comment, “Kya hua madam, paidal chal rahi hai...gaadi kharab ho gayi hai kya?”