8 May 2006 Lee, I thought as a regular visitor to India you know why! Numerous highways are either under construction or repairs. When this is happening, one side of the road is closed to traffic and vehicles from both direction use half of the full width. This need not be a problem if people take extra care while using this stretch by avoiding overtaking, stopping and over speeding. But unfortunately the reality is quite different. They not only over-speed, overtake and stop as and when they feel like it, but some drivers also continue driving along the half that is under repairs. Poor signage, poor enforcement (highway police are never around) and badly constructed edges makes the roads even more dangerous. The poor pedestrian or the cyclist (near villages) is not even in the picture when these grand highway schemes are planned and although big promises are made about environmental factors, there's hardly a highway one can name, that didn't massacre hundreds of grand old roadside trees. A slight realignment of the road could save many trees (by bringing them in alignment with the road dividers) but roads and high profile expressways are designed in air conditioned officices in Delhi or Mumbai by engineers who don't understand nor care for silly things like birds and the trees that environmentalists seem to worry about more than human lives.   It is precisely these kind of articles (like the one published by Guardian) that help to worsen the situation because they are written from the point of view of Mr Poonawalla's brand new Rolls Royce rather than the majority who have to use the highways out of compulsion of getting from point A to point B, preferably alive and in one piece. Exactly the same attitude prevails in cities where flyovers and roadwidening (for the personal auto vehicle) always gets priority over the needs of Public Transport buses, pedestrian paths and safe cycle tracks. - Sujit stuck in traffic <div>On 5/8/06, Lee Schipper <<a href="mailto:schipper@wri.org">schipper@wri.org </a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">whoops. Why are they driving on the US Side? That aside, this is EXACTLY what Mayor Penalosa and I observed in Dec. 2004 driving from Delhi to Agra. People running across the road, 18 wheelers running camel drivers across the road, etc. >>> <a href="mailto:eric.britton@ecoplan.org"> eric.britton@ecoplan.org</a> 05/07/06 4:05 PM >>> We were talking about images of the reality of the road of India just the other day, and as I result I went into out Gender, Equity and Transport site at <a href="http://www.gatnet.net/">http://www.gatnet.net/</a> to take the first small steps to build up photographic evidence. Here you have image number 4 in this collection.  Sadly. Three burnt alive in road accident in A.P. Staff Reporter CHOWTUPPAL: Three persons, including a two-year-old boy and his mother, were killed in a road accident when a speeding lorry ran over two motorcycles near Khaitapuram village in Chowtuppal mandal on the National Highway No. 9 on Saturday morning. Two others were also critically injured in the accident. The lorry carrying a load of onions from Hyderabad to Vijayawada was totally destroyed in the fire that erupted after it hit the motorcycles and dragged them along for over a distance of 70 feet. The impact was such that sparks flew as the motorcycles were dragged and the petrol tanks burst and soon fire engulfed the lorry. As the morning traffic on the busy highway screeched to a halt and the passengers watched in horror, bodies of three motorcyclists caught fire. The lorry crew have fled. Fire engines brought the fire under control. Source: <<a href="http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/07/stories/2006050704360600.htm">http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/07/stories/2006050704360600.htm</a>> <a href="http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/07/stories/2006050704360600.htm"> http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/07/stories/2006050704360600.htm</a> ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). Because of the history of the list, the main focus is on urban transport policy in Asia. </blockquote></div> -- ------------------------------------------------------ Sujit Patwardhan <a href="mailto:sujit@vsnl.com">sujit@vsnl.com</a> <a href="mailto:sujitjp@gmail.com"> sujitjp@gmail.com</a> "Yamuna", ICS Colony, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune 411 007 India Tel: 25537955 ----------------------------------------------------- Hon. Secretary: Parisar <a href="http://www.parisar.org"> www.parisar.org</a> ------------------------------------------------------ Founder Member: PTTF (Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum) <a href="http://www.pttf.net">www.pttf.net</a> ------------------------------------------------------