Demands :

• Pedestrian-oriented design interventions on high-risk junctions of Mumbai

• Install Pedestrian refuge islands^[i] on busy junctions.

• Paint markers for vehicles and pedestrians on all intersections of Mumbai

• Stricter actions on the encroachment and illegal parking on footpaths.

More than half of the citizens in Mumbai commute on foot or on a bicycle. Local trains are in the second position with 25% using it for the commute. 

 

But when you hit the road in Mumbai, what do you see? Four wheelers and two-wheelers are used by less than 10% of citizens and yet occupy more than 87% of road space, choking up the city roads while those who walk have to find the roads to walk on.

Now for the most outrageous part, 

Mumbai police published a report in 2019 that had shocking numbers about fatalities in road accidents in Mumbai. Out of all deaths due to road accidents, 90% of fatalities happened with cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians. The most unfortunate being pedestrians. While this report is for 2019, the trend is the same every year. Most of the fatalities occur on very few busy junctions in the city. 

 
BMC can prevent almost all these deaths. Organizations like World Resource Institute have already worked with BMC to carry out design interventions on busy junctions and brought the fatalities to zero. Take a look at one of the transformed intersections here.


Mumbai police have already identified the black spot junctions where maximum fatalities have occurred over the years. It’s time BMC should implement these pedestrian-oriented design interventions on all major intersections in Mumbai.

While these pedestrian-oriented design interventions are not possible to implement on smaller junctions, basic street markings are not present on many roads in Mumbai city. This led to lane cutting, difficulty in crossing the roads due to no zebra crossing lines, among others Street markers painting is a cost-effective solution to guide traffic with less intervention. 

One of the major causes of pedestrian death is unusable footpaths due to encroachment and illegal parking on footpaths. BMC and Mumbai police need to take stricter actions on the encroachment and illegal parking on footpaths.

 
If pedestrians get pedestrian refuge islands^[i] on busy intersections, clear markers on all roads and empty usable footpaths to walk on, it will help pedestrians to walk safely on roads. At the same time, it will help the overall flow of the traffic in the city. We have to make sure that roads should belong to everyone. 

Sign this petition and help us highlight this issue to the BMC and concerned authorities. 

^{[I]: A refuge island is a small section of pavement or sidewalk, completely surrounded by asphalt or other road materials, where pedestrians can stop before finishing crossing a road.}