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“TRAFFIC CALMING
STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE PEDESTRIAN SAFETY IN INDIA” Jaipur
stands third in the road accidents in India. More than 152
pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents and 579 were injured
in the year 2006. Despite rapidly increasing accident counts, no
funds have been allocated for road safety till date. The
increasing pedestrian accident rate in Jaipur alarmed CUTS and it
initiated a unique project entitled, ‘Traffic Calming Strategies
to Improve Pedestrian Safety In India’, in active partnership with
the Department of Technology and Society, Lund University, Sweden
and with the support of the Swedish International Development
Agency (SIDA), New Delhi.
The
study aims to highlight the key flaws in the design of Indian
roads and develop a manual, first of its kind in India. The manual
will contain suggestions/recommendations on ‘remedial traffic
calming strategies’ for concerned policy/decision makers,
primarily in the departments of Police, Transport, Municipal
Corporation, Development Authority and Public Works. About 24
sites in six locations would be studied for a detailed
investigation of road crashes involving pedestrians. The
two-year research project was formally launched in Jaipur,
Rajasthan, on March 03, 2008. The Transport Commissioner Jagdish
Chandra presented the keynote speech followed by the expert
comments of DIGP (Traffic) Kumar Indu Bhushan. Various
stakeholders, academic experts and other non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) participated in the event. As a
part of the project, a two-day training programme on selection of
sites for the Indian team was organised in Jaipur, Rajasthan, on
March 04, 2008. Prof. Christer Hydén, Department of Technology and
Society, Lund University, Sweden along with Prof. Geetam Tiwari
and Prof. Dinesh Mohan from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),
New Delhi explained various important issues for selecting an
appropriate site. A
primary survey was conducted to collect accident details from
registered FIRs from the police for the year 2006. The data
revealed many high-risk zones for pedestrians in the city; 31
locations were short listed and visited, out of which 17 locations
have finally been selected for research studies. The field studies
would include video recording of traffic for four days at each
site. The Swedish expert Prof. Christer Hydén will provide
remedial measures for each site after the analysis.
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