Are we safe on our roads? If not, why?

Boasting with the second largest road network in the world, can we do the same about safety? What has made our roads unsafe? Overwhelming traffic, diverse vehicles,poor geometry, or humans? Road crashes have become so common that news on it goes unnoticed. And worse, not all crashes are reported; why take up legal hassles too?

Another dream is shattered (photo courtesy: Mr Arun T M, M.Tech Project)

A few statistics to begin with

At least 15 people die every hour and,  1.37 lakh dies every year in the country, whereas in Kerala,Nine persons die in road crashes every day,  136 persons are injured daily in crashes, amounting  to 12% of total road crashes in India, not forgetting approx 6 lakh people sustaining serious injuries and incurring a loss of 600 crores per year, as per ndtv.

The causes

Though prima-facie crashes are attributed to human error, we can't rest assured by this. Some questions need to be answered:

1. What was the time, month, week and day?

2. Which is the location Junction/straight road/curve?what about visibility ?

3. What vehicles were involved?

4. What was the weather condition?

5. What was the control conditions? Signal/islands/uncontrolled?

7. And how about the road surface?

8. What happened after the crash?

9. Was there anything unusual (an open drain/damaged footpath/some trench/bus stop)? 

10. How frequent are such crashes here? 

A few more points are important too:

Was there a sudden braking? what was the condition of the vehicles, driver(s) or pedestrians? Was the vehicle overloaded/overcrowded? Was there sufficient light? or too much (glare)? are road markings/dividers visible? The questions seem endless, and each of the above questions are dependent on many other factors. Still, we need answers to these questions. Interestingly, answer to each of these questions differs with scenario and individuals.

A case study

As part of a study we did in Thiruvananthapuram city and rural, crash locations (hotspots) were identified with the help of police records, mostly, FIRs. Here we faced the first glitch. FIRs are biased in favour of  the smaller/weaker party.This is because for a common spectator, fault is always with the larger vehicle or the only vehicle if a pedestrian is hit. Since everything is a hearsay, one can't actually figure out the real cause of the crash. In the city Karamana, Chackai , Kowdiar, 

Pappanamcode and Eastfort.are most crash prone. In the rural, kallambalam, kazhakkuttam, karatte, alamkode and mamom came in  the top five.

During the study, some locations were identified as about to become hazardous, like Uppidammodu bridge which was recently improved under the city roads development scheme. Later signals were also placed here. Even during construction of the divider (median), there were crashes (I personally had witnessed a vehicle going over the median and once I narrowly escaped from a crash due to bad lighting). The study and experiences pointed to an important aspect: it is not just enough that we provide better geometric design and control, but facility should be well lit and people should be aware of how to make use of the facility safely. We are having lot of road safety weeks and campaigns, but crashes are on the rise,  on fatality, if not on number.

The Road

Seemingly safe and comfortable, many of the city roads have hidden danger in the form of unexpected depressions. These depressions are mostly seen near the manholes like a bowl or like an inclined shallow trench resulting from an improperly filled service connection trench. Another menace are the raised or depressed manholes. Potholes, damaged islands and open construction trenches (without proper warnings) are other issues.  Recall that a person lost his life in a trench excavated  for  underpass near nemom. It may also be noted here that the traditional stoves of pongala festival burn  off the bituminous surface of the roads resulting in depressions that ultimately form potholes.Another hazard is the edge drop, a result of new layers being added to the existing road surface. 

Hidden signs, obstructing post and damaged median at PRS, Karamana

(photo courtesy: Rajesh and team, B.Tech)

Garbage

Though it may not seem to fit here, dumping garbage on roads has a role to play.They reduce thewidth of roads and force pedestrians to walk on roads; they can also render roads slippery.

Glare: a villain

A field study conducted at night revealed the hazard of glare. Through illegal modifications to headlights, people are achieving better lighting in front of their vehicles, but unaware of or not caring for the fact that the same would bind an oncoming driver.

With power-enhanced headlights; visibility of road is reserved to the privileged.

(an observation from chackai, photo courtesy: Mr. Joe Joseph)

Visibility around corners

At sharp corners and at cross roads, visibility around the corner is a deciding factor in safety. Shop owners encroaching the footpaths seldom realise that they are adding to the lack of visibility. So are the people who park at junctions and curves. The issue was found more prominent at junctions between plamood and pattom, peroorkada, poojappura and thiruvallom. 

Improper location of signs

At many places in the city warning signs such as "bump ahead" are placed too close to the bump, or in many cases either are tampered with or not visible thanks to a hit and run. many of the skidding crashes and rear end crashes occur due to this. Due to lack of space, signs are located on the middle of footpaths, accompanied by signal posts, lamp post and trees too! Any space left by these are occupied by cars. Where will the pedestrians walk?  

The human side

Having said all these, we need to look at what a human being does on the road. Let us take a pedestrian for instance. It has almost become a prejudice that rules are not applicable for pedestrians. A vast majority would walk anywhere on the road, except foot path and  cross at any point, except on the zebra lines, violate pedestrian signals, run to cross road, would stand anywhere to have a chat, get in to or out of a bus at the middle of the road, cross from behind a parked bus; all the time keeping others guessing. Recently the city bus stand at East fort reported many run-over cases. Before blaming KSRTC, these points are to be considered.

Driving

Driving license seems to be license to do anything on road. Moving at high speeds, sudden manoeuvres, overtaking through left (come on! do you want to say that you didn't see "do not overtake through the left" written on the back of the bus?), jumping red, stopping anywhere on road, turning from the left most side of road to the right at signals, using wrong side of median, are just a few of these. It is hard to find a vehicle stopped behind the stop line. Most of them would be on the zebra crossing, or even further beyond, if no policemen are there. 

For many amber light is to "accelerate without care" instead of "proceed with caution or better stop". Interestingly, all these happen in front of cameras. Timer is like count down for rocket launch. Talking about manoeuvres, autorickshaws are the worst. A sudden stop out of the blues followed by a u-turn is not surprising,better others be watchful! How many of these drivers are aware that even a small hit could cost a fortune for the victim? If hit at a speed of 60kmph, it is like dropping from a  multi-storied building.

A word about safety devices here:  Helmet is a menace for many, so they would keep it at any place:  front of bike, behind bike, on the sides, in their arms, with the pillion riders, anywhere but their head. If at all they would keep it on their heads, it is to ward off police, not death. Many would not lock their chin straps. Needless to speak about seat belts. and kids on two wheelers! Recently I saw a lady riding a two-wheeler with a toddler (just having height up to seat level) standing on the platform facing her! Overloading of two wheelers with baggage is another serious problem. I had witnessed an overloaded two wheeler losing balance and the driver (a lady) getting a serious head injury on NH by pass near chackai.

Parking

Parking is another zone where rules vanish in to thin air. No matter how many lanes are added, illegal parking eats away one or even more of the lanes. Strict control of parking is essential, but only after providing a better place to park. Unauthorised no-parking boards placed by shop owners need to be removed and replaced where necessary by government-installed signs. 

Putting it all together

Every citizen, no matter who they are: road user, authority or resident,  has the responsibility to ensure safety. Authorities need to first discuss with the public before some modifications are done to a road facility, assure them of safety and ensure they are aware of the new rules. Pedestrians are to be  educated to use foot paths, that's not just enough. Violators (be in any manner) need to be penalised. But before taking this step, it is to be ensured that they are provided with an obstruction (encroachment) free footpath. 

Similarly, buses should stop near the side and not on the middle of the road. then alone can a person be asked to board the bus from the road side. Geometry of many junctions require improvement, including relocation of lamp posts and the like.  In a nutshell, from cure mode we need to think in prevention mode.

Tail lamp: Violation of helmet rules have grown to such an extent that I once overheard a petrol pump employee saying "let us give helmets on rent". it is impossible to discuss all factors in such a short span of time, but this post would be updated. comments are most welcome.

Acknowledgments: Transportation Research Centre, College of Engineering Trivandrum,   my students Mr. Joe Joseph, Mr . Arun T. and Ms. Rosemary Xavier(M.Tech.); Rajesh S, Harikrishnan AV, Vishnu R. Pradeep, Shuhail H, Adarsh SV, Aswin PC and Lalhmingliani (B.Tech).

God's own Country......Nature's own way (on floods in the city)

Nature (and mother earth)  is a miracle; it can tolerate exploitation to a great extent. It has it's own ways of balancing itself; but as is true with any other thing, there are limits. Flooding in Thiruvananthapuram city is one of the best examples of how nature (and system) responds when it's own ways of maintaining balance are challenged. 

  

 Padmatheertham (top right) and Pathrakkulam (bottom left) 

(an old painting, courtesy:sharatsunderrajeev.blogspot.in)

Pathrakkulam: Now Theerthapadamandapam

 (photo courtesy: thiruvananthapuram.cityseekr.com)

A brief history

We had an enviable system to drain waters off the city roads and to provide fresh water to city during the times of erstwhile royal rule.  The kochar (now not to be seen on a map), a channel/tributary from killiyar, brought in fresh water to the city . The Padmatheertham pond (which is luckily still there) had an excellent overflow control system, which was accomplished by the  pathrakkulam (now theerthapadamandapam). Flooding in Thampanoor region was controlled by manjalikkulam and (as learnt from a post in facebook by Sri Mohan Kumar) the nearby marsh too.  It is obvious that everything was there for a well defined purpose. How true is the saying "old is gold"! 

Recently discovered  tunnel entrance from kochar

Manjalikkulam: past and present (photo courtesy: the hindu)

The manjalikkulam was converted to a playground and the marsh to KSRTC garage (information courtesy: Mohan Kumar in facebook).  As stated by The Hindu : "The soil that was removed during the demolition of the hillock was used to fill the pond. Manjalikulam (or Vavanjalikulam) was then a decaying pond and breeding ground of mosquitoes and a headache for the residents nearby. During the effort that was started during the Gandhi Jayanthi (October 2) of 1975, 3,000 loads of sand and soil (mostly from Shanghumughom beach from the mandapam area, which, incidentally, left a hole on the beach for some time). Filling the pond was hailed by one and all. However, both the construction in farm land in 1919 and filling of the pond in 1975-77 today would have evoked protest due to evolved environmental awareness. It is to be suspected that the filling of this pond is very much a cause of flooding in Thampanoor area."

There were a number of other ponds too: "Indratheertham (Attakulam), Brihutheertham (Manacaud Sree Dharma Sastha temple pond), Agnitheertham (Agneeshwara temple pond), Varaha-theertham (Sree Varaham temple pond), Dakshina Ganga (Thekkanamkara canal), Agasthya -kundam (Mithranandapuram temple pond), Kanvatheertham (Chettikulam), Varuna theertham (Karippukoikkal pond), Rudratheertham (Chirakkulam), Somatheertham (Manjalikulam), Ramatheertham (Vaniyankulam), Ananthatheertham (Padmatheertham), Eshana theertham (old Nandavanam pond)" as per Ananthapuravarnanam (courtesy: a 12th-13th century work, cited by sharatsunderrajeev.blogspot.in), most of which by now have vanished. Thus a well visioned, well planned and well designed storm water drainage system plunged in to history. The famous quote attributed to Cherston by John F. Kennedy: “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up” was violated many times, in many ways here.

The canals and other ponds

Flood waters were carried by pazhavangadi thodu, kannammoola thodu and ulloor thodu (getting leaner and shallower day by day thanks to the sediments, both natural and contributed by humans), the thekkanamkara canal and the parvathy puthanar (once a navigable waterway, connected to lakes and finally varkala tunnel; now the largest sewage and solid waste carrier) and the network of small drains. 

Varkala tunnel then and now (photos courtesy: kaithamukkilfamily.webs.com)

Gone are the days of the royal rule, now it is new democracy: "encroachment of the people, for the people and by the people!". The recent operation anantha discovered many buildings constructed over and in to existing drains. The famous, still working thekkanamkara canal passes under huge building complexes in the fort area, and that would always remain a roadblock in the development of storm water drainage system in the city. 

Blocked drains

In old days there were no sewerage lines as houses had septic tanks. Water happily flowed unobstructed through the roadside drains. But when the sewerage system was introduced, people started cutting across these drains to lay their sewage pipes and water lines in order to get connected with the street water supply/ sewer line. The result: dams across roadside drains. 

At places where houses located near the old storm water drainage system, residents found it convenient to simply open their drainage pipes in to these channels, and later into rivers too! If the water was not contaminated, many of those innocent kids would not have lost their lives or suffered later, when the school vans plunged in to parvathy puthanar (It is not to be forgotten that the dredging of sand from these channels had made them dangerous for navigation too and that made rescue operations even tougher). They made these channels their garbage bins. Although the government resorted to construction of fences, the people somehow found ways to put garbage in, even by throwing it over the fence. The fences started vanishing over time too. 

Wastes dumped in pazhavangadi thodu(photos courtesy: sonyvellayani.com)

Parvathy puthanar now (photo courtesy: news.entecity.com)

wastes dumped in parvathy puthanar (photo courtesy: elabjournal.ijtvm.org)

sewage outlets into water bodies (photo courtesy: yentha.com)

Vanishing paddy fields

Paddy fields and marshes are getting converted to real estate and everyone is building compound walls abutting streets around these converted lands. Whenever they needed an access to the property they simply did fill the drains that passed alongside the property; why spend on slabs? No body would want water to enter or stay inside their premises, so they raised their ground, and covered the land with cement concrete. The outcome is obvious: water flowing in to and collecting on street, damaging the roads in no time. 

The ultimate result

Mahatma Gandhi had once said "The earth has enough for everyone's  need, but not enough for everyone's greed".  In their haste to improve their own life, humans have forgotten the tolerance of nature and the need of future generations too.  Nature has put a question: now that you have plugged all the outlets, where will all this rain water go?  The equation is simple: more open land converted to concrete surfaces+more compound walls+ more water and wastes +clogged drains + vanishing ponds+rain = floods. 

Flooding at thampanoor: (photo courtesy: news.entecity.com)

state water transport terminal? 

(photo courtesy: manorama online.com)

Flooding of tracks (photo courtesy: rail news.co.in)

 SS kovil road: this was the situation 20 years back too!

Pazhavangadi thodu: only because of the vehicle one can identify the road

(photos courtesy : week.manoramaonline.com)

After surviving a tough drive through flood waters in the padmavilasam road ,
saw this confluence  at pazhavangadi : this should have better occurred at junction of canals
(phots: author)

A  few words on Operation "anantha"

The government is now surely doing a good job with as of now a ten crore package, as the flooding has at least reduced during the recent rains. But opposition from many encroaching persons have put difficulties before the team involved in the job (manjalikkulam issue) .  It is ironical to note that people won't afford to lose a play ground, but they are ready to wade/swim through water mixed with sewage during every rain! More disgusting thing is that the same people who cause these floods by their actions blame the authorities for having a defective drainage system. It was shocking to see a huge heap (almost one storey high) of waste and debris excavated from the drainage canal just outside the fort area. Hope it will open the eyes of people and make them hesitate before throwing the next piece of garbage in to these channels.

Another drain appears: Encroachments being demolished at 

Karimadom Colony as part of the operation "anantha"

(Photo courtesy: the Hindu)

Everything illegal starts giving way finally: demolition at pazhavangadi 

(photo courtesy: mathrubhumi.com)

Another achievement of the operation: a better and wider culvert across drain on Attakulangara Eanchakkal by-pass, which would be a boon for water and road traffic alike.

(photo courtesy: New Indian Express.com)

Plastic plastic everywhere! Plastic wastes and dirt from 

Pazhavangadi thodu, tonnes of this have been dredged out

(Photo courtesy: thehindu.com)

Huge mount of debris and wastes excavated from the drain outside fort, and a relieved drain 

(photos: author)

Another encroached waterway: Kariyil thodu

Kariyil thodu, meeting thekknamkara canal

Beyond the reach of a tape! 

Kariyil thodu, taken up under operation anantha following media reports 

(photos courtesy: mathrubhumi.com)

But there is a debate going on the effectiveness of the operation. As per Deccan Chronicle:"According to reports, a full-fledged drainage network  runs beneath commercial complexes." There is an allegation that the operation was  waste of money and manpower.  "The government has spent around Rs 172 crore  to solve  the flooding at East Fort and Thampanoor in the past two decades. The demolition drive which is going on is avoidable. Without retrieving  Pathrakulam, it is pointless to spend crores. They should have focused on cleaning up the Kannamoola and Akkulam stretch which is extensively encroached and clogged” 

Deccan Chromicle continues: "A senior official associated with the drive said that eviction notices would be served after finalising the plan.  The archaeology department has identified widespread encroachment of significant heritage property.  ‘Pathrakulam’-once a pond - was encroached long back.  However,  ‘Operation Anantha’ has failed to evict the encroacher which is one of the main reasons for flooding at East Fort region". Further, the operation is not to be considered as an eviction drive, but recovery of drainage network, including thekkanamkara canal and ensuring proper flow in the system (names of persons have not been mentioned here, as allegations remain allegations unless proved).

With no good inlets and feeder drains, cleaning up the middle or outlet portions of a drainage canal alone would yield no satisfactory results and hence the recovery drive in the city is justified. While it is true that restoration of the old drainage system would not be complete without retrieving Pathrakkulam, interestingly there is no  report on overflow observed at Padmatheertham during the rains. As noted earlier, Pathrakkulam was meant for collecting and diverting the spill-over from Padmatheertham.

The Future

No matter whatever drainage systems the authorities would introduce they would be proved futile if a few things like the following are not done by public: 

1. stop encroaching the drains and canals, 

2. stop dumping wastes especially non biodegradable stuff and domestic sewage,

3. say no to plastic, or at least reduce, reuse and recycle, especially plastic,

4. switch over to no flooring or interlocking block flooring in the compound

5. implement rain water harvesting.

6. commercial establishments which had come up over the old thekkanamkara canal and associated drains need to take initiative to ensure smooth flow through the system.

7. remember during every action that our future generation would have to pay for our deeds (sustainable thinking).

These steps, coupled with repairs to the old system and introduction of new systems would surely hep in realising a flood-free city. Restoration of the old system would be an ultimate solution, but considering the vastness of the issue the immediate focus on draining of  flood waters is justifiable as a short term measure.

update: article on the restoration drive in mathrubhumi: link

Update: 22/07/2015: Just like any good initiative from people who wish to do something good for the state, this too is facing hurdles now, thanks to the thoughtless acts of a few officials and allegations of corruption. Hope the project would overcome all hurdles and realise the dream of a flood free city....lets hope the project would not lose direction  and continue endlessly groping in darkness as its name.....anantha. link


Update: 26/12/2015: Recent attempts to clean up parvathy puthanar has met with setbacks from humans as well as nature......it is hard to work against nature, but humans? When will we improve?

Fig: Article from mathrubhumi nagaram (25th december 2015) on how parvathy puthanar revival drive faces setbacks.

Bridges shall no longer be places to have a feel of natural beauty, if this trend of fencing continues. We have to fence around the human tendency to dump wastes and violate rules. If someone wants to dump wastes, he/she will do it: either through, under or over the fence, as had occurred in the case of pazhavangadi thodu... Do we need another chennai episode here to learn?

note: this post would be updated frequently, so as to bring in the latest developments.



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