Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner (traffic) with Delhi Police, agrees that the city should do more for pedestrians. In an interview with Vishal Kant, he also suggests putting a cap on the number of cars sold in Delhi.
What are major reasons for the high number of pedestrian
deaths in the city?
The lack of footpaths, foot overbridges and subways are some of the obvious reasons for the high number of fatal accidents. Since the footpaths are encroached by hawkers and car owners for parking, the pedestrians are forced to walk on the carriageway. However, most of the fatal accidents are recorded while pedestrians are crossing a road.
What is the role of Delhi Police in checking encroachment of footpaths?
Infrastructure becomes a big deterrent in towing away vehicles parked in a non-parking zone. Lakhs of vehicles in the city are parked on the streets.
Even if people want to park their vehicle at a public parking, they can't do it because such facilities are not available in enough numbers. The police do not have adequate infrastructure to park vehicles which are towed away.
What are the measures which could be taken to reduce pedestrian fatalities despite the limitations in terms of infrastructure?
The GT Karnal Road stretch on National Highway 1 had registered 60 percent rise in fatal road accidents in 2011 over the previous year. But it has shown a vertical decline in road accidents during the first three months of this year.
The stretch that had registered as many as 25 fatalities during the first three months of 2011, has recorded only five deaths during the same period this year. Moreover, there has not been any pedestrian death so far on the stretch. Small measures like scientific placement of rumble strips, speed calming strips and zebra crossings at two strategic locations has shown positive results.
It has also been observed that people do not use pedestrian facilities even where they are available. What is the traffic police doing to check that?
We have started a special drive at various locations in the city to punish jaywalkers. A total of over 1200 pedestrians have been booked for jaywalking this year. On the other hand, in order to encourage people to follow traffic norms and use pedestrian facilities, traffic police distributed lucky draw coupons amongst people using foot overbridges, and the winner was awarded Rs 5000.
What do you think is the single most important step that needs to be taken for pedestrians?
Every civilised nation must have proper facilities for pedestrians. There should be restriction on the number of vehicles sold in the city. The city can't carry the burden of so many private vehicles. There has to be a cap on number of vehicles a person owns, otherwise it is difficult to provide such basic infrastructure.