40 motorists fined every hour for driving against traffic flow in Delhi

On an average, over 40 motorists are prosecuted every hour for driving against the traffic flow in the national capital. But traffic police officers said that they are able to nab and prosecute only a fraction of those who violate the flow.

Pedestrians are always vulnerable in Delhi and the risk they face increases manifold when faced with vehicles driving in the wrong direction, road safety experts said on Tuesday, after a slow moving crane ran over a woman in Dhaula Kuan.

According to road safety experts, pedestrians in Delhi face manifold risk from vehicles driving in the wrong direction. (HT File)

“It is a deadly combination because the pedestrian is then practically left at the mercy of vehicles. We have been campaigning vociferously against wrong side driving,” said Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (Delhi Traffic Police).

On an average, over 40 motorists are prosecuted every hour for driving against the traffic flow in the national capital.

But traffic police officers said that they are able to nab and prosecute only a fraction of those who violate the flow.

The figures for pedestrian casualties are worse. Over 44% (702) of all people killed in road accidents in 2017 were pedestrians. Another 2,283 (34.56%) pedestrians were injured in the same period.

Sewa Ram, a road safety expert and a professor of transport planning at School of Planning and Architecture, said that the ideal situation would be if a pedestrian and a vehicle driver are able to see each other on the road.

“When a pedestrian crosses the road, he will look to his right and see a vehicle approaching him. The vehicle driver too will be able to judge the pedestrian’s movement. But if a vehicle is being driven on the wrong side, there is a high probability that the pedestrian won’t spot him and be left at the mercy of the driver,” said Ram.

In the Dhaula Kuan accident, the 61-year-old woman was walking along the road and wasn’t able to spot the crane that was moving against the traffic and ended up mowing her down.

“Driving on the wrong side can never be excused. The only situation in which a pedestrian can feel safer, even from wrong side driving, is if he/she is on a jam-packed road and the offending vehicle is travelling at a very low speed,” said Ram.

On Sunday, the 61-year-old woman was killed by a slow-moving crane, a rare occurrence on Delhi roads. Most of the eight other fatal mishaps involving cranes between 2013 and 2017 have been at construction sites, say traffic police officers.