SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF BOMBAY'S
MOST DIFFICULT PROBLEM
By BIOS.

One of the gravest diseases of civilization and one of the most difficult to cure has proved to be pedestrianitis or jay-walkers' diseases. Its history and pathology have been studied carefully in every country, its symptoms examined and described minutely, and diagnosis has resulted in finding some measure of relief, if not of cure. The medico-legal aspects of the problem in Bombay have not yet, however, been put clearly before the pubic and this study is an attempt to do so.

From time to time articles have appeared in the Press, speeches have been made in public places - all of them upbraiding the pedestrian for his dangerous and slothful habits. That his habits are both dangerous and slothful no one can deny. Get into a motor car and drive from the Gateway of India to Sion Causeway via Crawford Market; everywhere your path will be impeded and obstructed by pedestrians who make every possible wrong use of the road and omit to make any posible right use of the footpath. Here three priests confer solemnly in the middle of the road at an intersection (these three impeded the writer's car on the very morning that this article was prepared); there a mothers' meeting is being held, also in the middle of the road; opposite the Army and Navy Stores two stockbrokers and a speculator are arguing about the price of shares. Hornby Road has two lines of trams running up and down, cars park almost its entire length on both sides, buses and bullock carts, bicycles and victorias and hand carts move up and down on it and at the best of times a motor car cannot average a high speed on its surface; but in between the buses, trams, lorries, motor cars, gharries, bullock carts, bicycles, and handcarts wander small boys and girls, portly banias and ascetic-looking clerks, businessmen of all the many nationalities and creeds that go to make up the population of Bombay, ladies of every kind intent upon shopping and other domestic affairs, peons and messengers - in short, most of the city's population.

W.I.A.A and 'Safety First Association
The motorist continually blows his horn, swears under his breath (not always under his breath!), rams his brakes on frequently, and with luck may reach Crawford Market without knocking anyone down or scraping a mudguard. "And yet," says the critic, there is a perfectly good footpath the entire length of Hornby Road on the both sides; why the blazes don't pedestrians use it?"
The problem is not new. The Government Traffic Advisory Committee took up the problem in July 1934 and decided to ask the WIAA and the Safety First Association to initiate a campaign to educate public opinion, after which official measures could be brought into effect. These two bodies met together and agreed to intensify their efforts to solve the problem by widespread distribution of hand bills in various languages.
In October 1934 the Safety First Association of India stated in a letter to the Commissioner of Police that in their opinion the problem of pedestrianitis can be cured only by the adoption of policy of
i) Engineering
ii)Education
iii)Enforcement
They stated that it was essentially a problem to be tackled in that order; engineering would ensure that footpaths were fit to walk upon and that where no footpaths exist, they would either be provided or the roadside would be made suitable for pedestrian use. Education would then instruct the public in the use of footpaths. Finally, Enforcement - that is Police action - would be brought to bear upon the heedless careless minority which refused to observe the same safe practices as the now educated majority . The Safety First Association made it very clear that enforcement must follow education and that education was useless until the engineer had provided properly for the pedestrian.

Safety Must Be Taught In Childhood
The Safety First Association stated at the same time that a new generation could be brought up with safety ideas inculcated from childhood provided safe practices were taught as a part of the school children's curricula. They pointed to the excellent results achieved in the United States of America and in some of the countries of Europe on these lines.
This Association followed up its letter to the Commissioner of Police by the issue of six posters illustrating the safe and proper way to enter and descend from public service vehicle such as tram, train or bus.
Similar instruction was given and is given very frequently on every phase of road, street and footpath practice in Safety News, the Association's publication.
In the meantime, the W.I.A.A. was also taking up the matter and had started a campaign to inculcate safe walking along those roads of Bombay which have decent foothpaths. W.I.A.A. road patrols and others of its staff were posted along these footpaths with a large supply of multilingual leaflets explaining the principles of safe walking. These road scouts were supported and were given the necessary authority by Police constables who accompanied them. Here it is perhaps as well to note that under the Bombay City Police Act, Section 22(I)(b), the Police are empowered to take action against persons using road where there is a footpath. The Section reads:
No person shall walk along a carriage-way of any street wherein a side walk exists.

Why Drivers Cling To Road Centre
At the same time, the W.I.A.A. were endeavouring to educate motorists not to drive exclusively in the centre of the road; but they could not avoid the conclusion that no motorists would risk being sued for damages by driving at the sides of the road so long as pedestrians were compelled to use them owning to the absence of footpaths. At same time, this Association noted that driving on the left of the road was rendered a matter of both physical and physiological difficulty to the motorists by the very fact that these portions of the road were frequently in very much less good condition than the centre and were often excessively cambered, thus rendering them dangerous especially during the monsoon
In August 1936 the Safety First Association again addressed the Commissioner of Police asking him that the recommended safewalking practices which they attached should be explained throroughly to all subordinate police officers by means of lectures and demonstrations and through district police gazettes and that the police, acting on these, should set a good example to the pedestrian publice. The Commissioner of Police acted the next day, circularised the Safety First Association's letter and ordered a one month pedestrian instruction experiment. In this circular the Commissioner of Police pointed out that although motor accidents in Bombay were increasing a large number them could not be attributed to the motorist but were entirely due to the thoughtlessness and ignorance of pedestrians who used the carriageway rather than the footpath.

The above article was published in the Motoring Magazine, June 1938

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