Road safety in India: The zebra belongs to the pedestrians

Video 5: The Zebra Belongs To The Pedestrians

Indian driving is known for disrespecting the traffic rules. Worse still, drivers show no respect to a fellow human - the pedestrian. Most drivers fail to stop at the zebra crossings for the pedestrians. While disrespect for the pedestrian's rights is one reason, the other is a complete lack of awareness that Indian traffic rules clearly state that all vehicles must give way to pedestrians at zebra crossings. Perhaps this video will encourage the Indian drivers to follow the rule ''The Zebra belongs to the pedestrians'' and bring about a much needed cultural change on Indian roads.

Sadly it's not just the drivers who disrespect the needs of the pedestrians. The town planners, civic officials, politicians & citizens are all to blame. Making an example of Pune, the video slides shown below provides evidence for vehicles being given a priority over humans (pedestrians). Cities like Pune have over 40% of their roads without footpaths. And where they exist they are encroached not by hawkers or slums, but rather by toilet blocks, badly designed bus stops poorly placed electricity boxes and last but not least garbage skips. It's about time civic & traffic authorities in India mend their ways and make pedetrian safety a priority.

Additional information:

Sadly, most city authorities in India are spending money on deleveloping / widening roads and forgetting that a road is never complete without a pavement/footpath. The Indian Road Congress clearly reccomends that the minimum width of a footpath should be 1.5 meters. Yet, many roads are either without one or where they exist made of varying heights or as narrow as one foot wide! Further our footpaths tend to lose their identity and disappear at turns or bends. In reality, a footpath never loses its identity. This document is a compilation of images of pavements from the UK and Pune. Also, there is nothing stopping our authorities from implementing a simple parking policy on roads wide enough to ensure that pavements are never encroached on. I share a template I sent to Pune Municipal Corporation demonstrating how pavements can be safe gaurded from parked vehicles as well as hawkers. Click Here to download this template. Our dictum should be - 'First Footpaths, Then Roads'.

Most cities in India are ignoring the guidelines of the Indian Road Congress when providing pedestrian facilities. To help overcome this, it is vital that citizens are empowered with the knowledge of the IRC norms. A summary can be found here.