[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by shortbread

Pedestrians on Kerala's narrow roads are highly vulnerable. The road boundaries touch private property walls giving next to no space for pedestrians, who therefore step onto the road.

Some of the earlier* Chennai flyovers were built as if pedestrians did not exist. Not one single slab of pavement. And the side roads are normal, busy roads, with on-the-road buildings. Walkers/visitors just have to take their chance


*I hope this changed. Frankly, I don't do that much walking these days to be sure <Blush>

[Sherlocked]

Anyone know where this happened and if the guilty boy was punished:

https://twitter.com/dr_tushar_mehta/...-E_hX5I-G5JIJw

Some people do get overboard in the name of festivals be it Holi or Deepawali. Sad state of affairs.

[SLK]

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

Anyone know where this happened and if the guilty boy was punished:

Yes, boy's fault. But I fail to understand the deep deep political nexus which allows these things to still run on the roads. Why should a 3 wheeled thing which takes almost same space on the road as tata nano still be alive and the nano dead.

We talk about safety here, this is a rickshaw with a motor running @ 60kmph on roads, if a car passed it and splashed some road water, it would have been still landed like this.

[VijayAnand1]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Four men who were on their morning walk were hit by a truck, which then sped away. According to the latest reports, 3 of the victims lost their lives. The truck driver later surrendered at the police station with his truck.

The truck was in its lane, but appears to be speeding. However, the road was unlit and the victims were walking on the road. A car that passed a few seconds before the truck narrowly avoided hitting the group.

CCTV footage starting at around 00:55:
https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=-RKWtqfmSKQ

Being a biker myself, this is why it's advised to wear high-vis reflective vest especially when cycling or doing any fitness activities like jogging or walking, early dawn and late dusk. The dull visibility at these times 100% can surprise any driver for that matter. It's at these times when an object blends with the darkness only to be lit by the headlights, and by then it's too late to make any evasive maneuvers. These can be related dime a dozen during highway drives, esp during early dawn, milkman with no headlights, jaywalkers, stray cattle, dead animal carcasses.




This is what I can summate: These men shouldn't have walked like that in a narrow road, that's number one, they could have walked one behind other instead of all lining up perpendicular to the road, and thirdly they should have used their civic sense owing to the potential proximity of the group on a fast running highway.

Sad to see lives lost purely due to negligence of their own. RIP

Cheers!
VJ

[Gfactor]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Some of the earlier* Chennai flyovers were built as if pedestrians did not exist. Not one single slab of pavement. And the side roads are normal, busy roads, with on-the-road buildings. Walkers/visitors just have to take their chance


*I hope this changed. Frankly, I don't do that much walking these days to be sure <Blush>

I am sorry but I don't understand the need for pedastrians to walk on flyovers, and I believe pedastrians are not allowed on flyover, additionally personally think getting down on flyovers from vehicles is incorrect practice akin to not walking on the opposite lane.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Gfactor

I am sorry but I don't understand the need for pedastrians to walk on flyovers, and I believe pedastrians are not allowed on flyover

You reckon pedestrians don't have the need to cross whatever the flyover is facilitating vehicles to cross? In an ideal world one would build skywalks exclusively for pedestrians before banning them from flyovers.

Example: At Domlur the "blessed" pedestrian route from Gangaram's to Barbecue Nation is about 1.5 km. This distance reduces to about 500m if one took the flyover of Domlur interchange.

[TheHelix0202]

Originally Posted by binand

You reckon pedestrians don't have the need to cross whatever the flyover is facilitating vehicles to cross? In an ideal world one would build skywalks exclusively for pedestrians before banning them from flyovers.

Example: At Domlur the "blessed" pedestrian route from Gangaram's to Barbecue Nation is about 1.5 km. This distance reduces to about 500m if one took the flyover of Domlur interchange.

Are you suggesting that it’s okay to walk on the flyover then?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Gfactor

I am sorry but I don't understand the need for pedastrians to walk on flyovers, and I believe pedastrians are not allowed on flyover ... Please correct me if I am wrong.

You are absolutely right! And I agree 100%.

But that is not what I meant. I meant the ground-level roads that are part of the system, and are also normal roads with normal buildings and normal need for access.

Originally Posted by binand

You reckon pedestrians don't have the need to cross whatever the flyover is facilitating vehicles to cross?

They have a need, and should be allowed for. They should never need, or be allowed, to walk on the flyover itself.

But of course, I can believe that there are systems as badly designed as the one you describe.

[saikarthik]

Holi celebration? Yes, let's forget all the sense and throw balloons on the vehicles. An auto topples due to irresponsible behaviour during Holi celebration. Thank goodness that the auto wasn't being trailed by any vehicles at speed.. What's worse, no humanity to even help the people, the person who caused this accident just distances himself from the location.

https://youtu.be/0aUsWjEpaUk

[karanddd]

All these responses about pedestrians being run over by a truck, but no mention of the most obvious problem: the lack of a sidewalk. Pedestrians and vehicles are not meant to share the same piece of road. Anywhere else in the world there would be a sidewalk next to the road where people can walk safely, without having to worry about wearing hi-vis clothing or watching their backs. Unfortunately in India most roads force pedestrians and vehicles to co-exist on one slab of tarmac, which is insane and dangerous and an example of utterly thoughtless design.

[Vegitocat]

After watching the film Jalsa yesterday and looking at this incident, I have a question on liability.

Even if you are doing 40, there is IMHO, no way to avoid someone who jumps onto the road. This maybe cattle from the median on a highway, people jaywalking when on a highway (when you are probably doing 80) or even in this case walking on a road with zero-visibility.

When is it ever the pedestrians fault for walking on the road? (even tho in this case clearly there is no sidewalk). Time and again I have noticed even with foot-wide footpaths, pedestrians do tend to walk on the road either by habit or because there are obstructions, but predominantly by habit.

Years ago my college bus driver ran over a jaywalker on the highway. He fled the scene and the victim did not survive. However he was not held liable as the pedestrian was apparently drunk.

Ultimately how can a driver safeguard himself/herself?

[setuniket]

Get a Dashcam, ultimately the court can only convict the car driver if he is negligent. Dashcam(among other evidence) can help in establishing correct facts.

Originally Posted by Vegitocat

Ultimately how can a driver safeguard himself/herself?

[binand]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

They have a need, and should be allowed for. They should never need, or be allowed, to walk on the flyover itself.

So I will go one step beyond and say that if the powers-that-be don't provide solutions to that need, they will continue to walk on the flyover.

Originally Posted by TheHelix0202

Are you suggesting that it’s okay to walk on the flyover then?

And therefore, as road users we have to be cognizant of the ground realities. When the alternative is 3x longer, we (car users) have to understand that people WILL walk on the flyover and irrespective of whether it is OK or not, we have to condition our driving anticipating it.

[saisree]

Originally Posted by setuniket

Get a Dashcam, ultimately the court can only convict the car driver if he is negligent. Dashcam(among other evidence) can help in establishing correct facts.

I agree its a savior but, everyone cannot get a dashcam installed. We should first remove the common bias that the bigger vehicle is always at fault. People coming/crossing on to the road except at crossing and intersections should be treated as committing suicide and there is no compensation. This will create a fear and may bring some discipline.

[JojyKerala]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Four men who were on their morning walk were hit by a truck, which then sped away.

Sad news but unfortunately this style of walking is a familiar sight in Kerala (not just with early morning walkers).

Just yesterday I experienced the same thing when 4 teenaged girls were walking in a similar manner after returning from school. The road was quite similar to the one in the video. I stopped my car and honked at them. They looked back and gave me a stare but didn't give way. I waited for vehicles from the opposite direction to pass to "overtake" the students.

I accept that there wasn't enough space for pedestrians to walk in. But what these students should do in this scenario is walk one behind the other or two in front and two behind. All 4 walking and occupying the road while chatting away is a recipe for disaster.