North Campus is like a microcosm of a city where you can find anything from Starbucks to Sudama ki chai at walking distance, making e-ricks one of the most popular source of commuting. The traffic at North Campus is not heavy when compared with areas like Chandni Chowk, Karol Bagh or Paharganj, and is in certain ways one of the safest places to live in Delhi without the fear of getting run over by a car, bus or an e-rick (whichever tops your list).
When you get off at Vishwavidyalaya metro station from the exit gate, the second thing that will catch your attention is the trail of e-ricks outlining the front gate of the metro; the first being, the e-rick drivers racing towards you where one is likely to ask you to take the front seat and be the 5th passenger in a vehicle suited to carry only four at a time.
When you enter Chhatra Marg an illusion of a calm university space is created with light traffic on the road which is broken by a cacophony of noises as soon as one reaches what is popularly known as the Patel Chest area via the crossroad adjacent to Miranda House. Jaywalking in this area is as risky as it is common.
When I was new to the place, I had the habit of waiting for the road to clear up before crossing. However, from experience, I’ve realized unless it is 6 a.m. in the morning, wishing for a clear road is the same as wishing for entry into Stephen’s without an ID. It once took me more than ten minutes to cross the road because I kept waiting for the vehicles to stop and they kept coming in. I remember complaining about this to a friend of mine who then told me that pedestrians in Delhi can cross the roads as they please. Now, if I tell you that the guy later had an accident and is in a hospital right now due to his lack of road discipline, it may make up a great moral story. However, the guy is perfectly fine because apparently most people here jaywalk their way to the other side of the road.
Jaywalking, as I’ve learned, is a Delhi-wide phenomenon which involves pedestrians avoiding the sidewalk and walking on the road without any regard for approaching traffic or using their magic hand to signal the car to stop as they rush their way to the other side of the road without any regard for the traffic signal. While the story maybe in favour of the jaywalkers, the statistics aren’t. In the year 2016, a report by the NGO SafetyFirst (based on the assessment of the previous 2 years’ data) estimated that over 70% of accidents in Delhi involved pedestrians and cyclists.
Interestingly, lack of law is not one of the factors behind jaywalking because according to the Motor Vehicles Act, a fine of 50 rupees is charged for it. Although it is easy to blame the pedestrians for jaywalking one must understand why they frequently risk their safety. While convenience is one of the reasons, other factors include: lack of proper implementation of pedestrian safety like the most basic zebra crossing and the underestimation of the risks of jaywalking on the part of the pedestrian.
The sidewalk on both sides of the Patel Chest area serve two major purposes: that of a free parking lot and a space for private shop owners to expand their business by providing their customers with seating arrangement. This leaves the pedestrian little space to walk forcing them to take the road instead where they tread slowly avoiding the rest of the parked vehicles and dodging the moving ones. The open drains on sidewalks is another alarming issue which people get used to once they’ve tripped on them once or twice.
These problems aggravate when the pedestrian is a specially abled person. While there are ramps on selected foot paths like those near college buildings, there are rarely any on footpaths near residential areas like Vijay Nagar or Kamla Nagar. Ramps serve a dual purpose as they are often used by motorists to advance their way onto the footpath, a strictly vehicle free zone. The heavy traffic and rash driving makes these roads highly unfriendly for the visually impaired. “There is no way for us to know the traffic signals which makes us dependent on someone else to help us cross the road. Whether I’m using my stick or not the open drains remain a menace,” says Preevi Singh, a visually impaired student of Miranda House.
Proposing subways or foot over bridges in the North Campus area may not be a viable reform option considering the short distance between the two sides of the road. Hence, removing the pedestrian from the view by implementing the aforementioned techniques wouldn’t help solve the issue. Solving the issue would require integrating the pedestrian as an integral unit of the road safety planning while keeping in mind the needs of the specially abled, and thus, implementing pedestrian safety mechanisms.
These should include prominent zebra crossings, audio-traffic signals, planks on footpaths, closed drains and proper sidewalks without obstructions and vehicles. However, a sense of responsibility on the part of the citizens towards the specially abled citizens and their own safety is always a required necessity.
Featured image for representative purpose only.
Featured image source: Kaushik Roy for India Today Group via Getty.
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