[sustran] Re: Indian roads - planes, cows, elephants, mosques

Walter Hook whook at itdp.org
Fri May 4 23:25:15 JST 2007


I am very much in favour of these traffic calming devices and have suggested
we incorporate the same on New York city streets. 

 

Far fewer pedestrians would be killed on 5th avenue if we had some nice
hindu temples, cows, and elephants, in the middle of the road to slow down
the vehicles encouraged to drive 55kph by greenwaved ATS.

 

Best

Walter 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+whook=itdp.org at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+whook=itdp.org at list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf
Of Madhav Badami, Prof.
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 10:00 AM
To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
Subject: [sustran] Re: Indian roads - planes, cows, elephants, mosques

 

Dear Carlos,

 

Once the craziness of the academic term comes to an end, I promise a
detailed response to Jonathan Richmond's (and others') postings on the
situation in India (and what we can and ought to do about it). I will try
and work elephants, cows and yoga  -- but not planes -- into my response as
well :-). Meanwhile, I will leave you with this personal viewpoint ... India
is like life itself -- joyous, sometimes sublime, and at the very same time,
very messy, even obscene, but never ever dull and boring. 

 

Madhav

 

************************************************************************

 

"As for the future, your task is not to foresee, but to enable it."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
 
Madhav G. Badami, PhD
School of Urban Planning and McGill School of Environment McGill University
Macdonald-Harrington Building
815 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, QC, H3A 2K6, Canada
 
Phone: 514-398-3183 (Work); 514-486-2370 (Home)
Fax: 514-398-8376; 514-398-1643
URLs: www.mcgill.ca/urbanplanning
www.mcgill.ca/mse
e-mail: madhav.badami at mcgill.ca

 

 

  _____  

From: sustran-discuss-bounces+madhav.g.badami=mcgill.ca at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+madhav.g.badami=mcgill.ca at list.jca.apc.org]
On Behalf Of Carlos F. Pardo
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 9:42 AM
To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
Subject: [sustran] Indian roads - planes, cows, elephants, mosques

We had the chance to be in India (Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune) last week,
working in a BRT training course with the SUTP project, ITDP and World Bank
(which was very useful). Parallel to the workshop I would go walking around
to see these cities. This news from a plane in the middle of a road reminded
me of some other issues I saw:

- A mosque as wide as the sidewalk (Delhi), "blocking" the way for
pedestrians,
- An elephant walking on a major arterial,
- The typical cows in roundabouts or roads,
- The classic situation of the "chaotic" Indian intersection.

This has all made me think deeper about the recent discussion started by J.
Richmond. Is it institutions? Is it a deeply culturally rooted
characteristic of Indians? Is it religion, yoga or whatever? I bought a book
on Indian culture which I've started reading to see if I find any answers. I
would really like to hear from people in India their point of view on why
they think this happens. Being from Colombia, I'm completely lost trying to
understand this.

Best regards,



Carlos 



Roselle Rivera wrote: 



something (amusing/very bothering?) on transport.
 Bad and irresponsible planning? or planned tourist attraction?



** The Boeing 737 stuck in city road **
Residents of the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) are wondering how long it
will take to remove a disused Boeing 737 that has been abandoned in a busy
road.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6620461.stm >


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