Upon reading what Enrique Penalosa, former mayor of Bogota, had to say on ‘Footpaths’ ( The Hindu Nov. 22, 2009), I suddenly felt that someone has reflected exactly my feelings. My ordeal to reach office and return home five days a week has become a curse as I happen to live in a big city like Hyderabad without owning a vehicle.
While the developed nations have separate lanes for pedestrians and bicycle peddlers, in most Indian cities governments invest money and effort in cutting trees and removing pavements to widen roads. This has resulted in two types of roads. First, there are roads where pedestrians occupy almost the entire breadth and cars and bikes constantly honk to find their way out. Secondly, there are roads that are completely occupied by vehicles leaving little or no space for pedestrians. While the first kind is a pain for the vehicle drivers or owners, the second one is the pedestrian’s agony, the one that I face everyday.
In this second kind of roads, the pedestrian is treated like an illegal intruder who does not have any right to be on the street. The vehicles which always seem to be in haste keep honking behind him/her, even if he/she is on the left limit of the road with a part of the body brushing against the leftmost wall bordering the road. They, it seems, would not mind crushing her beneath their wheels. A solution is just a separate lane for the pedestrian, a footpath.
Yes, there are footpaths, footbridges and zebra crossings at quite a few places. It’s just that, the footpaths are less for man and more for manholes. They become the street dwellers’ accommodation, the street vendors’ outlet, the public garbage dumping ground and a lot more except a pedestrian’s freeway. The height and the number of steps in a footbridge are such that an arthritis patient or a senior citizen would prefer risking his life crossing the road to climbing up the footbridge. The ever fading stripes of the zebra crossings reveal their plight of being under the wheels of massive vehicles all throughout rather than the shivering feet of a terrified pedestrian.
As population increases, as the standard of living of the middle class Indian rises, as vehicles become more and more affordable, the traffic problem is only destined to aggravate. How far can the government accommodate the ever-increasing number of vehicles by clearing forests, widening roads and building flyovers? And where shall we finally end up by this approach of green murder and a devastated ecological balance? Isn’t it time to realise that a solution lies somewhere else? Encouraging car pooling, discouraging the unnecessary use of vehicles, developing better public means of transport, and building footpaths free of manholes, garbage, roadside dwellers and street vendors are not so difficult to implement given their huge positive impact.
A relatively simple step like building a separate pedestrian lane shaded by trees would serve more than one purpose. First, it would save the lives and ordeal of pedestrians. Second, it would provide relief to the vehicles which are constantly irritated by presence of the pedestrian on the roads. This would also reduce noise pollution marginally as drivers would stop honking. Third, it would contribute towards cooling and refreshing the atmosphere, playing its part in global cooling and climate restoration. Fourth, it would encourage more people to walk, especially in a tropical country like India where without tree shade walking causes more harm than benefit. This would not just reduce fuel consumption and air pollution, but would also assist in the creation of a healthy India.
