From increasing footpath height to penalising bikers: What Pune officials are doing to ensure pedestrian safety

Watch: After The Indian Express published the first part of the campaign, some Pune residents shared videos taken by them showing bike riders using the footpaths as they please

PMC is worried about the safety of pedestrians when two-wheelers come on footpaths, said Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikas Dhakane. (Express photo by Arul Horizon)

Traffic police officials from Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad accept that the bikers intruding on the footpath during peak traffic congestion are an issue of concern, especially when there is a great push for making roads pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly under the non-motorised transport policy. The solution to this problem also lies in education, enforcement and engineering, they admit.

“Two-wheeler riders entering the footpaths make it unsafe for pedestrians. We continue to take action against these violators as and when it is possible – both through e-challans and on the ground. While there is no separate head for this, we charge these bikers for wrong-side riding and endangering safety,” Vivek Patil, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) for Pimpri Chinchwad police, said.

“Also while this enforcement aspect continues, an engineering solution is also in the works. At many places in Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune, we can see that many footpaths are being reconstructed. They are being made at such an elevation that bikers would find it difficult to get onto them. They will also have barriers. We hope that this will solve the problem to some extent,” he added.

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An inspector in charge of a traffic division in Pune said, “While we would like to focus on issuing challans against such violations, we have to prioritise the deployment of available officers and personnel to traffic management during peak hours. This means we cannot focus on enforcement against such traffic violations amidst heavy traffic. We do not have enough numbers for it.”

Pune Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Shashikant Borate said, “In addition to enforcement, which we will continue to do, we also need to emphasise the importance of education and instilling a culture of traffic etiquette right in schools.”

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is worried about the safety of pedestrians when two-wheelers come on footpaths, said Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikas Dhakane. “It is a fact that there are places where two-wheelers jump on footpaths making it unsafe for pedestrians. There is a need to sensitise the public on the issue along with making necessary infrastructure changes,” said Dhakane.

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The PMC has been putting up bollards to prevent two-wheelers from clambering onto footpaths, he said. “The civic administration put up concrete hurdles but they were broken by riders… we have installed them again. Similarly, the footpath height is raised wherever it is seen that there is easy access for two-wheelers on the footpath,” he added.

The civic body takes action against encroachment by hawkers on footpaths but when it comes to action against two-wheelers riding on footpaths, the police will have to be strict, Dhakane said, emphasising that enforcement is a must to prevent footpaths from being misused so blatantly.

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