Pedestrians: An endangered species

Despite being in the majority in most third world countries, the pedestrian is today the most ignored and brushed away unit who is constantly bullied on the road, almost never has right of way and who is perpetually at the mercy of motorists who are in the habit of thinking that the roads belong to them.So much so, that this bewildered man who has learned to fend for himself in this vast jungle of urban traffic is almost made to feel apologetic today about his mere existence on the street.

Thus, though disturbing, it is by no means surprising to note that accidents involving pedestrians have become an almost regular feature of life. And in a city like Pune where there are no pedestrian plazas, limited subways, pavements that are rendered ineffective by virtue of encroachment by either hawkers or slum dwellers and a total lack of respect for traffic rules amongst motorists, the pedestrians here end up being vulnerable beyond imagination. Lending credence to the above, are the staggering figures of the number of pedestrians who have been either fatally or seriously injured in the city in the past three months- all indisputable proof of the fact that the pedestrian is generally regarded as little more than a dispensable commodity who has no right to be on the road by the menacing wheels that zip across the roads throwing caution to the winds.

In the month of February this year, a total of 11 pedestrians were killed and 10 seriously injured in road accidents. Out of the 11 fatal accidents involving pedestrians four had been knocked down by trucks, three by cars, one by a matador, one by a tempo and two by two-wheelers. Intriguingly most of the cases also took place in the overcrowded and accident prone areas of Bhosari, Deccan and Yerwada. Coming to March, the number of pedestrians killed on the roads were nine, while five others were seriously injured.

Here again the main culprits were trucks, followed by jeeps and tempos- all vehicles most prone to speed with the steering being in the hands of rash or inexperienced drivers. The most oft repeated places where the accidents took place were Pimpri, the notorious Mumbai-Pune highway and Kothrud.

In April, while the figure showing accidents involving pedestrians is relatively low, there is still the record of five persons having lost their lives and six seriously injured on the roads of Pune. Out of the five killed, three had been victims of hit and run accidents, while the seriously injured were knocked down by cars, M-80s, autorickshaws and in one case even by a PMT bus. Two of the fatal accidents happened on the Mumbai-Pune road, one on M.G.Road, one in Swargate and one on Sus road.

Taking an over view of the last three months there have been 24 pedestrians killed on the roads of Pune while 21 were seriously injured. What this proves beyond dispute, is the sheer impunity with which laws seem to be broken by motorists and the scant respect they seem to have for people walking on the roads.

Ask the families of Pushpak Solanki or Anita Londe of Bhosari, Umesh Rajed or Shashikant Thite of Deccan, Nirmala Morwani and Prabahkar Yashwant of Pimpri and they would tell you what it feels to see a family member walk out of the house perfectly healthy in the morning for a routine job, only to see him or her the next time lying in a morgue after being crushed under merciless wheels. Like Brigadier Prabhakaran Shivraj Pillai who was crushed under a tanker on Sus road on May 17 or Baban Nimhan who was done to death as he sat on his stationary motorcycle on the side of the road when a water tanker rammed into him, again on Sus road.

Sus road, in fact, seems to have assumed demonic proportions for the pedestrians over the past month with Bhiku Ganpat Deokar also succumbing to a hit and run case on April 30 on that very road.

Thus every second that the pedestrians spend on the street, they per force expose themselves to dangers that are beyond their control that could well make all the difference between life and death.