On January 1, 68-year-old Raghunath sent a message to his Residents Welfare Association group in Telegram about the heavy flow of traffic in their residential Layout, located along the Bannerghatta road in Bengaluru. In his message, Raghunath asked whether they could request the traffic police to deploy two constables in the area to regulate the traffic. A couple of days later, on Tuesday, January 3, tragedy struck as Raghunath was hit by a speeding motorcycle while walking through the Layout. He passed away later in a private hospital in the city.
The death of the senior citizen has yet again raised questions concerning the safety of pedestrians in Karnataka’s capital. “This was an accident waiting to happen,” said Srinivas Alavilli, a Bengaluru-based citizen activist. Residents living in the Classic Orchards Layout, which was where Raghunath also resided, said that due to the metro construction on Bannerghatta road, traffic diversions were made which led to heavy traffic flow on the road passing through their Layout.
“There are over 1,500 people including children and elderly people residing in this residential area. Much before the accident took place, we had spoken to the police as well as the BMRCL to take measures to regulate traffic as it is dangerous for the residents. Despite BMRCL restricting traffic along the stretch, they did not do anything to enforce it and heavy traffic kept flowing through the layout,” said Swarupa Kakumanu, President of the Classic Orchards Welfare Association.
Speaking to TNM, Srinivas said that this particular stretch of road along the Classic Orchards layout, where the accident took place came under the jurisdiction of three different traffic police stations. “So this 1-kilometre stretch of road is seen as a no man’s land and no traffic police station wants to take responsibility,” he said.
The other issue, according to Srinivas, is the lack of communication between the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the police. “There are some systematic flaws. BMRCL will come up with some measures that the BBMP will not be aware of. The BBMP will do something that the BMRCL won’t know, and the police will have no idea what either of them is doing,” Srinivas pointed out.
According to Bengaluru Mirror, 228 pedestrian deaths were reported in Bengaluru in 2022, a 43% increase as compared to 2021. “These 228 are recorded deaths. Unrecorded pedestrian deaths will be more. Year after year, we see such reports and lament the utter disregard for pedestrians. The rights of pedestrians are not respected in our city or country. We need to raise our collective voice and ensure that stringent laws are brought in,” he added.