Pedestrians left to fend for themselves

BANGALORE: Five busy roads and over two hours. A pilot survey on Monday evening confirmed what we've seen -- pedestrians just don't matter in Bangalore's traffic plan. Wider roads and increasing thrust on infrastructure have done little to take into account the common man trying to cross a road.Women and senior citizens takemore time waiting than crossing a busy road. It takes just 8-11 seconds to crossa road but the waiting time was well beyond 3 minutes.ChandraprabhaS was the first to demonstrate the problems faced by a pedestrian trying tocross the roads with kids. She took about 40 seconds to cross the busy SankeyRoad near the Sankey Park entrance at Malleswaram with her 5-year-old sonPramarth, spending not less than 20 seconds waiting forclearance.Deepa Venkatesh also had a tough time crossing thejunction with Samhita, her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter. "It's becomingincreasingly difficult crossing roads in Bangalore carrying a child. Once I evensprained my ankle trying to get across the road at 8th Cross Sampige Road," saidthe angry mother. There are pelican lights installed at Bellary Road(Air Force Station, Hebbal after Mehkri Circle underpass), but they're of no useunless there's a traffic cop around. Even youngsters find it difficult to crosshere. Even when the pelican light was green for pedestrians, cars continued tospeed across without stopping.Crossing the busy Lingarajapuram roadin East Bangalore during peak hours was also a tough deal. The pedestriancrossing at the foot of the flyover near St Charles School is a mess. "I waitedfor more than 2 minutes at the signal and crossing this road takes not less than5 minutes," said Kavitha Krishnamurthy, a volunteer for thisstretch."We'll continue with the survey once every week and submitour consolidated report to BBMP and traffic police to help them find solutions,"Sridhar Raman, volunteer of the NGO Hasiru-Usiru told TOI. TimesviewThe BBMP and traffic police seem to have forgotten thepedestrian, who waits patiently by the roadside and darts across breaks intraffic, risking life and limb just to get to the other side. It’s timethey factored her in their plans of road widening, flyovers, etc. to ensurewalkers get a fair deal with pavements of sufficient width and unobstructedaccess. We only marvel at how Western cities care for their pedestrians but donothing to emulate them.