Mumbai: Crash deaths fall 20% in a year of road safety design overhaul

At 1230 PM on a weekday the main intersection outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus CSMT is not as chaotic as it will be five hours later when rush hour traffic transforms the pocket into a mindnumbing bedlam Yet a family with three children which is attempting to cross over appears to be walkingon eggshellsThat this crossing is split into four junctions makes negotiating it tricky Add to this pedestrians always take the shortest route when crossing Abhimanyu Prakash urban designer and architect describes it as the goats trailBandras chaotic HP Junction is now pedestrianfriendly after an experiment with barricadesHe explains the analogy thus When you go to the mountains you see tiny tracks created on the ground by goats walking them Its usually the shortest path they take to reach their destination Humans are no different You can paint a zebra crossing wherever you want but we will take the shortest route AlwaysThe fact that this shortest route could be the most perilous is hardly ever considered Not to mention the lack of focus on pedestrian infrastructure in Mumbais road design plan an issue emblematic of most megalopolises across the world In short this means that sidewalks zebra crossings and refuge islands are either in wanting or unevenly distributedAccording to the World Health Organization report on Road Safety 2018 released this week deaths from road traffic crashes have increased to 135 million a year globally Thats nearly 3700 people dying on the worlds roads every day Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus directorgeneral WHO was quoted as saying in the report Even the Mumbai Road Safety Report of 2017 mdash a joint collaboration between the Mumbai Traffic Control Branch and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety BIGRS mdash pegged crashes involving pedestrian at 52 per cent of the total accidents last yearBut Mumbai seems determined to do something to rectify the mess It is in the process of seeing 20 of its major intersections mdash all black spots where road traffic crashes have been highly concentrated mdash into pedestrianfriendly zones Spearheading the drive is a group of young road engineers and transport planners from across associations that are partnering closely with the BIGRS the BMC and Mumbai Traffic Police for the last two years and more to change the dynamics and designs of our roadsJanette SadikKhanThe initiative is the result of a Memorandum of Understanding MoU signed between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Michael Bloomberg in March 2015 when 10 cities across five countries were selected to participate in a new phase of the foundations Global Road Safety Initiative which aims to reduce fatalities and injuries from road crashesJanette SadikKhan who served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation from 2007 to 2013 where she implemented an ambitious programme to improve safety mobility and sustainability and ensure a state of good repair on the citys roads bridges and ferries was recently in Mumbai to oversee the project for the transformation of CSMT an intersection shortlisted for the makeover At Bloomberg Associates she works with mayors around the world to reimagine and redesign their cities with innovative projects that can be developed quickly and inexpensively says the foundations websiteAmitesh KumarMumbai is expected to add six million people in the next six years Thats adding almost a citys worth of people every year Despite this growth the response by city planners has been to build more and wider roads which only increases driving and pushes everyone else to the side This is an incredible cost implication for cities It strains the economy with traffic and caps a citys ability to grow It creates streets that are dangerous for people to walk and bike on and this in turn creates streets that are unattractive and uninviting and takes away from what makes cities great SadikKhan told midday in an email interviewThe problem she points out is that most traffic engineers are following street design guides that were written half a century ago These focus on designing streets to move cars as quickly as possible from one point to another and see people on foot or riding bikes as problems to be engineered out of the equation As a solution SadikKhan and her team compiled a Global Street Design Guide based on proven designs and ideas from 72 cities in 42 countries which will now be implemented in Mumbai The guide shows how even streets in Mumbai can be redesigned to make them safer and easier to live work and play on and how roads can support the businesses public transport and institutions that rely on themVinod ChithoreDiscussing how the process works Amitesh Kumar joint commissioner of police traffic Mumbai said We are given the road design changes by the various agencies partnering with BIGRS Based on the changes temporary interventions are undertaken at the said intersections including using barricades and traffic cones painting new markers to highlight zones for sidewalks refuge islands and parking and car lanes as well as introducing street furniture and plantersIf the experiments are successful the traffic police will coordinate with the BMC to make these changes permanent he said adding Its a very effective measure At crossings where work is already underway LBS Marg Vikhroli and HP Junction Bandra West weve got feedback that pedestrians are happier and that the conflict between motorists and pedestrians has reduced considerablyWork has already begun on implementing permanent changes in five of the 20 intersections said Vedant Goyal road design and transportation coordinator BIGRS Vinod Chithore director engineering services and projects BMC said It is challenging to implement a new road engineering programme like this one but everyone right from the ward level to the different city bodies and traffic police have been coordinating and working effectively to make this workWe are also using the expertise provided by Bloomberg to train our engineers to build and reengineer existing roads across the city on the same linesThe narrow turn connecting Link Road and SV Road outside the entrance to Wildcraft store was painted temporarily in March last year so that it could be used for pedestrian movement only After a successful 45day trial work on paving the stretch began this year PicsSameer Markande World Resources InstituteThe results look promising According to Kelly Larson programme director for road safety at Bloomberg Philanthropies ever since the implementation of the project road crash fatalities are down by 20 per centChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus CsmtAbhimanyu Prakash who is also programme manager of National Association of City Transportation Officials ndash Global Designing Cities Initiative NACTO ndash GDCI and is working closely with SadikKhan to propose design changes at CSMTs four intersections points out how currently the road at DN Road in Fort which is a single car lane breaks into three lanes as it reaches CSMT further widening into eight lanes before splitting into two and three lanes respectivelyVedant Goyal road design and transportation coordinator with BIGRS and Abhimanyu Prakash of NACTO ndash GDCI at CSMT PicAtul KambleIf water coming from a 2 mm pipe is routed through a 5 mm one the volume of water stays the same But when you pour water from an 8 mm pipe through a 5 mm one it will either cause an overflow or blockageThe arrows in the brown stretches indicate how Abhimanyu Prakash and team have kept the lane constant 4 lanes on DN Road Hazarimal Somani Marg Mahapalika Marg and Walchand Hirachand Marg Space has been etched out for a sidewalk around the selfie point outside the BMC HQ to allow pedestrians to walk safelyThis is what is happening with the traffic at CSMT he says The changes Prakash and team outline will be incorporated temporarily in the first half of next yearNACTO proposes Keep lane alignment constant At DN Road for instance have a single travelling lane and use the other as a multipurpose zone which during the day will be used for parking and at night for loading and unloading activitiesof trucks Single lane to open into two lanes instead of eight to prevent bottlenecks Extra dead space used to widen sidewalks by 1 to 15 m to improve pedestrian movement Medians dividers at all critical points of the junctions to be lengthened so that the crossings are closer to where the fence lining the CSMT building ends Refuge island at medians where pedestrians wait before crossing over to be broadened Currently the refuge island is too narrow We need to create a ramp and space for two wheelchairs to stand at the same time and to be able to turn around says PrakashDharavi DepotDharavi depot has a straightforward intersection Prakash and the team at NACTO are currently working on preparing a detailed survey of the pedestrian footfall and traffic flow as well as fatalities reported at the sitePrakash and team have proposed extending the medians at the Dharavi Depot intersection and making provision for refuge islands PicSayyed Sameer AbediLike CSMT here we will maintain the number of effective lanes and balance the input and output of travel lanes from either side of the intersection says Prakash At present there is no sidewalk for people to walk on the Dharavi Depot Road While the shops along the line will not be touched NACTO has proposed constructing sidewalks on both stretchesP DMello RoadThis 6 kmlong stretch connects Colaba with the Eastern Freeway and witnesses heavy pedestrian traffic through the day A detailed assessment conducted by the International Road Assessment Program iRAP and World Bank which partnered with BIGRS for this corridor pegged the pedestrian traffic at 1000 people per hour during peak timeJigesh N Bhavsar senior road safety engineer with iRAP has proposed a host of changes on the 6 kmlong P DrsquoMello Road stretch PicBipin KokateJigesh N Bhavsar senior road safety engineer with iRAP says there was an urgent need to consider pedestrian safety on this road because it has seen 22 deaths in road crashes since 2015 While the sidewalks are broader than 3 metres on the stretch near the RBI building it narrows towards the freeway Work on this stretch is expected to begin next yeariRAPWorld Bank propose Building speed bumps at four sites Raised and signalised crossings at six sites respectively to allow for free pedestrian freely Warning signs for speeds humps Installing a pushtowalk button that makes the walk signal appear in a traffic signal at the busy intersection near Shahid Bhagat Singh Road so that pedestrians can signal vehicular traffic to stop when neededHP Junction Bandra WThis intersection connects three major arterial roads in the western suburbs of Mumbai and sees over 5000 vehicles mdash and an equivalent number of pedestrians mdash during peak hour While only three deaths due to road crashes were reported between 2015 and 2017 at this junction injury toll could have been higher Goyal of BIGRS saidThe red barricades installed in 2017 indicate how the project separates auto movement areas from pedestrian movement stretches avoiding a situation where pedestrians are walking head on into carsOne of the major concerns on this stretch was that intersection area had several undefined spaces and pedestrian crossings often ran into dead ends Improper median placements and lack of pedestrian refuge islands meant that pedestrians were spilling onto the road more often than notAfter a successful 45day trial in March last year where over 100 barricades and painted signs were used to redirect pedestrian traffic work on the project took off While the project will take another few months to complete the WRI India team says it has already led to a 30 per cent reduction in pedestrian crossing distancesChanges made The intersection area has now been made more compact mdash from 1423 sqm to 1000 sqm so that there is no residual space to leave room for conflict between pedestrians and motorists The traffic islands which were previously ornamented with plants have now been converted into huge refuge islandsor assembly zones further reducing the crossing distance As per international design guides pedestrians should not be allowed to cross more than three car lanes without a refuge island The same principle was followed here Lanes were realigned for better channelisation of traffic The turn connecting Link Road and SV Road was paved and will be used for pedestrian movement onlyGandhinagar Junction LBS Marg in VikhroliWhen the team at World Resources Institute WRI started work on LBS Road back in 2016 they found several issues on the 10km corridor Our surveys showed that in certain sections of the corridor pedestrians actually outnumbered motor vehicles said Binoy Mascarenhas an economist urban planner and head of integrated transport at WRI Reports cited that 57 people had lost their lives to road crashes between 2015 and 2017 on this stretch alone making it one of the riskiest belts for pedestriansFrom left Dhawal Ashar Goyal Binoy Mascarenhas and Saurabh Jain of WRI and BIGRS had first mooted the plan of widening the sidewalk at LBS Marg near Gandhinagar Vikhroli Work has already begun on a 2km stretch PicSameer MarkandeThe reasons for this statistic were discontinuous and inadequate sidewalks insufficient waiting area for bus passengers lack of pedestrian crossings between opposite bus stops and lack of signages at midblock Uturning areasIf you design for pedestrians it will improve vehicular efficiency as well If footpaths are not accessible pedestrians will walk on the carriageway car lanes putting themselves at risk and also reducing carriageway capacity says Dhawal Ashar manager integrated transport at WRIWork at LBS Marg is already underway on a 2km stretch At present they have provided two consistent car lanes the sidewalks have been extended by nearly three metres and the illegal parking lane has been completely done away with Where extra space was available they have made room for autorickshaws to park so that they dont stop on the car lanes to pick up passengers Provisions have also been made for a midblock crossing every 200250 metres with a ramp to allow for wheelchair movement If you have properly designed crossings at regular intervals with some form of calming it controls the speed of vehicals and reduces crash severity says Saurabh Jain senior project associate sustainable cities and transportCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates