[sustran] City has no space for the pedestrian

[Sunny Kodukula]

MUMBAI: Mumbai is slowly emerging as a pedestrian's nightmare with flyovers, road widening and infrastructure projects getting priority in urban planning.

Transport experts say the exponential growth of cars in Mumbai (nearly doubling over the last two decades) has skewed policies unfairly in favour of easing traffic—with little consideration for pedestrians . This bucks the global trend where cities, particularly in Europe, are cutting out vehicles and embracing walkers.

Mumbai road kill

Pavements are shrinking though 44% of citizens walk some distance to work Nearly 78% of road fatalities are pedestrians. Bikers and three-wheelers are next at risk, accounting for 7% and 4% of fatalities There are 220 pedestrians per car in India compared to 2-3 per car in North America and Europe. It's 280 in China Pavements in Worli measured only 0 to 3 metres, whereas minimum width required is 2.5 to 4 metres (Source: World Bank, Neeri & BMC)


Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-08/mumbai/29863629_1_road-fatalities-pedestrians-road-deaths