Study documents the travails of pedestrians

The findings of a report prepared by volunteers of the ‘Come, Cross The Road’ (CCTR) initiative reveals numerous loopholes in traffic management in Bangalore. 

The CCTR initiative was started by Hasiru Usiru with the objective to highlight pedestrian problems in the City through research, study and awareness events. Traffic lights not being functional at Bhashyam Circle, no signal and pedestrian crossing at Old Airport Road, traffic signals installed in 2009 at Nandidurga Road not working - these and various other problems faced by pedestrians at 17 busy traffic junctions in the City have been highlighted in the report. 

Close to 40 members from various organisations including Hasiru Usiru, The Association for People with Disability (APD) and Kilikili volunteered to be a part of the CCTR initiative and have been visiting traffic junctions in the City since July 2011. They studied and documented three to four junctions every week, wherein they took note of parameters like time taken by pedestrians to cross lanes, functioning of signals, condition of footpaths and pedestrian crossings, accessibility of skywalks to senior citizens, etc. It took them a total of six weeks to complete the project that included survey of places like Sankey Park, Bhashyam Circle, Sophia School, Esteem Mall on Bellary Road, EGL, Intermediate Ring Road, Tin Factory and KR Puram. While the study concluded by August 2011, it took a fair amount of time to compile the findings and the report was prepared only recently.

The volunteers visited traffic junctions mainly during peak hours, between 9 am and 10.30 am and between 5.30 pm and 7 pm. Pictures of these junctions were also taken. "When we visited Infantry Road, we found more than 10 two-wheelers on the footpath. To make them aware about our mission, we distributed pamphlets," said Vinay Srinivas, a core volunteer.

The volunteers are expected to hold a public meeting with the Bangalore Traffic Police, Urban Development Department and Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) by January 2014. The findings of the report will be discussed in the meeting and possible solutions chalked out.