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Old 15th March 2011, 11:43   #16
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

@Daewood: In Chennai, most of the footpaths are broken, uneven, full or crap (human, dog, cow), encroached, or all of these. And of late, the corporation has decided to make the city green by planting grass/flowering plants, reducing the space available to walk. In such a scenario, how would a pedestrian walk on the footpath? I never had a vehicle in Chennai, and would walk a lot. As much as possible, I would walk on the footpath. But sometimes, it becomes impossible. At some signals, there are signal lights for pedestrians too - they are activated for only the best sprinters. Imagine crossing the OMR at 9am, from Tiruvanmiyur MRTS station to TIDEL park side, in 3 seconds - yes, 3 seconds is the gap between the signal turning green for pedestrians and back to red. Okay, there's a foot-over-bridge, and people should be using them instead. If they really mean business, then they should not have allowed pedestrians crossing there.

Cities are growing, but facilities for pedestrians are given very low to no importance.
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Old 15th March 2011, 12:15   #17
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

Interesting topic. I understand the plight of the pedestrians as well as the irritation of the drivers. I do cross 6 lanes in the morning to drop my kid to other side where the school-bus stops and believe me during the entire day my heart does not beat faster than that road-crossing time. I mean, there is no signal, no foot-over bridge and there is a steady stream of vehicles doing 60+ speeds and then there are bikers who are zig-zagging through the maze of company buses which in turn are trying to overtake rashly driven dumpers.

At the same time, I can not relate to people who are walking by the side of the road and not using footpaths. Agreed the footpaths are not in good shape many-a-times, but then I expect them to take that with the local administration and not encroach on the motorist's right to use the road.
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Old 15th March 2011, 13:04   #18
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

Quote:
Originally Posted by silversteed View Post
@Daewood: In Chennai, most of the footpaths are broken, uneven, full or crap (human, dog, cow), encroached, or all of these. And of late, the corporation has decided to make the city green by planting grass/flowering plants, reducing the space available to walk. In such a scenario, how would a pedestrian walk on the footpath?
i do agree with you that footpaths are in a bad state in many places, but using this as an excuse pedestrians have happily invaded the roads even where there are excellent footpaths like in Annanagar. The 'will' to use footpaths is almost non-existant among chennaities. Only when pedestrians understand where they should walk, the corporation will do something to remove enroachments, broken tiles, etc.

A couple of years back in Annanagar the corporation made the footpaths smooth at the edges where the gates of a house start, as this uneven height was told by many pedestrians as a reason for not using the footpaths. Did they start using the footpaths after that? No, absolutly no change in their habits.
I too walk close to 1.5 km everyday to catch my bus and 95% of my usage is on the footpaths. When compared to fellow pedestrians who walk faster on the road i might lose a minute..that's all. That 1 or 2 minutes lost is worth it, for the safety you get.

Last edited by Daewood : 15th March 2011 at 13:06.
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Old 15th March 2011, 16:06   #19
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

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Originally Posted by Daewood View Post
i do agree with you ...
The 'will' to use footpaths is almost non-existant among chennaities. Only when pedestrians understand where they should walk, the corporation will do something to remove enroachments, broken tiles, etc...
That's right. But seeing the corporation spend unnecessarily on beautifying the city instead of providing for a basic facility - footpath, is appalling.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daewood View Post
I too walk close to 1.5 km everyday to catch my bus and 95% of my usage is on the footpaths. When compared to fellow pedestrians who walk faster on the road i might lose a minute..that's all. That 1 or 2 minutes lost is worth it, for the safety you get.
Good to know I have/had company

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daewood View Post
A couple of years back in Annanagar the corporation made the footpaths smooth at the edges where the gates of a house start, as this uneven height was told by many pedestrians as a reason for not using the footpaths.
People who complained are simply nitpicking. They had and will never have any intention of using the footpaths. The difference in height was a deterrent for bikers to get on the footpath. Now they have a smooth ramp to widen their territory. Make the footpaths a bit wider, and you can find ricks also on them.

Those who really intend to walk on the footpaths would be the saner lot.
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Old 15th March 2011, 16:20   #20
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

The pedestrians that make me extra cautious are:

1. Using mobile and oblivious to the world: Small honks till they've acknowledged my presence.
2. Two or more persons engrossed in a chat: Small honks till I've passed them.
3. Parent(s) walking their kid(s) without holding hands of the kid(s): Not so small honks till they've acknowledged my presence.
4. Indecisive (always looking in different directions, changing walking pace, etc.) ones: Honk like hell till they've acknowledged my presence.
5. Jumping a barrier: Honk like hell till they've acknowledged my presence.

Needless to say, in all cases I slow down to allow an emergency stop. I do honk a lot around pedestrians but better safe than sorry. Also having a loud horn helps. One of my friends has the Ambassador (big, round thing) horn in his NHC and I just love how the pedestrians make way even when he honks from a distance.

EDIT: Using a footpath somehow gives me a sense of tranquility, albeit a short one, as I usually find myself alone and slightly away from the mad traffic.

Last edited by lordofgondor : 15th March 2011 at 16:22.
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Old 15th March 2011, 16:42   #21
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

Most areas in Chennai are not pedestrian friendly. The footpath in front of my office was levelled and black topped to accommodate the Metro Rail barricades in the center of the road. There is absolutely nowhere to walk for pedestrians in this stretch and they risk life and limb every single day. The saving grace is vehicles are reduced to a crawl in this stretch.

Most drivers consider pedestrians a nuisance they have to endure. And the pedestrians in turn reciprocate the feeling!

None of the pedestrians are aware they should walk on the right side of the road, facing the on coming traffic.
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Old 15th March 2011, 18:44   #22
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

maybe this will ring a bell

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Old 15th March 2011, 19:12   #23
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

Well such people as we are aware just trust the oncoming vehicles to such an extent that they hardly feel they are at risk . They just dont seem to be afraid a bit about it and just trust the breaks more than even the driver of the vehicle would .

They dont even realize that hard braking can result in brake failures and causing them / others injury .

Had a unfourtunate incident around 2 years back while returning from office . It was a afternoon , less of work planned to take off early for the day from office just to avoid the IT park traffic . It was around 4 PM and me and my colleague atarted from the office . Approached the main road and was driving on moderate speeds of 40-50ish . The colleagure was driving in front of me in his Indiaca DLS , while I was behind him in mine .

Just as we were crossing a excise post (jakaat naaka) I saw a fellow running in from the other side of the road ahead of my friends vehicle . In a flash he was on to the divider and another second he was right in front of his vehicle . I knew he would be hit looking at the distance . The friend driving ahead braked as hard as he could , by the time I had anticipated it and almost moved my vehicle to the left of him just to avoid a crash . In the event the friend finally trying to avoid hitting him moved to the left as well .

Result a BANG !! Though his best efforts he could not avoid hitting him by his right bumper corner . The stupid was a truck driver who went off for getting change for the excise from the petrol pump opposite to the post .

The total damage was a whooping 64 K for me and to the friend was 18K.

Stupid fellow was taken to the hospital and given necesarry medication .

MORALE : Haste makes Waste

Spotting bad pedestrians :
People talking on phones
Ladies / Oldies
Youngsters moving around in group (mostly in fun mood, careless)

Last edited by jealousdiamond : 15th March 2011 at 19:14.
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Old 15th March 2011, 19:54   #24
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

It also teaches us all some important lessons: Follow the speed limits, specially when there is even the slightest possibility of any pedestrians wandering onto the road, and maintain very safe braking distances. Lest in our hurry to blame the errant pedestrians we should forget our own driving ethics.
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Old 18th March 2011, 15:23   #25
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

There is this very annoying type of pedestrian who like to cross the road diagonally!

and i always thought that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. i guess
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Old 18th March 2011, 15:35   #26
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

Quote:
Originally Posted by mdsaab View Post
There is this very annoying type of pedestrian who like to cross the road diagonally!

and i always thought that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. i guess
with the annoying pedestrians who cross diagonally.
Actually, the mathematical principle they are following is that one side of a triangle is always shorter than the sum of other two sides.
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Old 18th March 2011, 16:51   #27
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

The most irritating thing that pedestrians do is - have earphones stuck deep inside their ears and be lost in the song while walking on the road.

Ever since cell phones started having a considerable memory space and radio channels have come up, EVERYONE is hooked to them.

They lose all sense of where they are walking and how. No amount of honking will help.

Either wait till they finish their ramp walk or pray they look towards you and hurry up.

I'm sure this happens everywhere but took a look at Silk Board junction. You will find people crossing the exact lane that is currently on-the-go.

So, you'll have vehicles already coming at high speeds to cross the signal and clowns crossing that very lane negotiating each other.
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Old 18th March 2011, 19:00   #28
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

Quote:
Originally Posted by mdsaab View Post
There is this very annoying type of pedestrian who like to cross the road diagonally!

and i always thought that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. i guess
Quote:
Originally Posted by amitoj View Post
with the annoying pedestrians who cross diagonally.
Actually, the mathematical principle they are following is that one side of a triangle is always shorter than the sum of other two sides.
OT:
you both punters in math in school or something?
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Old 18th March 2011, 23:59   #29
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

What would one feel like when all of a sudden there is someone lookin right into your eyes, grabbing the wiper blades, hanging on for dear life? looking straight into your eyes, while he thinks I Just got hit by a car, I am going to die, his eyes said it all. Luckily I was not driving at that point of time, i was sitting right in the middle of the front row seat of our good old amby. Driver was past 50, very steady, would never take even the slightest risk, ( His son is also a S/W guy in the US now).

I can still remember how it all happened, guy runs off all of a sudden from a bus at the stand, crosses our car in no time, and then sees a GOVT bus overtaking us, he runs back from the median, hits our car and i see him holding the wipers looking right into my eyes.

Even for someone that learn t to drive all alone years back, it was shocking, but I did understand how shocking it can be for someone as the one that was driving. That was just once I have seen him jitter. A few years later I knew what shouldering responsibility does to ones mental make up.

All I can say is things happen, You might have always done the right thing, but our hearts have to be bigger to accept the mistakes made by the ones less knowledegeble? Let us all drive defensively, let us not blame others, let us create a new level " that is above every non- bhpian"

Worst offenders are commerical drivers, then you have the transport dept run buses.

AND THE WORST IS THE EDUCATED IT ENABLED LOT THAT POSTS THINGS OUT HERE AND JUMP EVERY SIGNAL ON THEIR WAY HOME OR OFFICE!


hMMM I can forgive auto drivers, cab drivers, so what do we do with all these clowns running their ride on OMR and ECR breaking rules and laws with their t-bhp stickers ?
Nothing I guess, but none of my rides are getting those stickers while we got some enthu rides doing all the glory!


I can't afford to get as often as I wish I can, I do freelance, and take care of family affairs, I get to sleep about 4 to 5 hours of sleep, I hope you guys can forgive my long post! * smile* lost count, * grin*
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Old 19th March 2011, 11:28   #30
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Re: Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

Quote:
Originally Posted by IronH4WK View Post
OT:
you both punters in math in school or something?
Hehehe. I guess its some good education, coupled in with good hard disks. But seriously though dont you agree? Why in the world would you cross a busy road diagonally?
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