13 deaths every hour in accidents

Participating in a regional dissemination meeting, ‘Traffic Calming Strategies to Improve Pedestrian Safety in India’ here, George Cheriyan, Director and Head of CUTS International, said research studies being gathered from Jaipur, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata will be documented in the form of a manual. It would be the first of its kind recommendations that can be utilised by policy makers, officials from the police, municipal corporations and other civic agencies.

“At least 13 people die every hour in road accidents across the country, for which speed is the main cause. Nearly half of those dying on the world’s roads are pedestrians, cyclists and riders of two-wheelers. We aimed at studying shortcomings and causes that make our roads accident prone and then develop and test holistic calming strategies on roads,” said Cheriyan. The manual on these strategies is expected to be released in Chennai in November.

Managing Director of BMTC, Syed Zameer Pasha said there exists a need to augment infrastructure facilities for pedestrians in Bangalore.