Conducted by Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu and Walking Classes Unite
From Thiruvanmiyur MRTS station to Spastics Society compound, Taramani Road
17 April 2008
Introduction
Spastic Society of Tamil Nadu is an organization that offers services for people with disabilities, with a school that specializes in education for children with physical and learning disabilities. Despite being located in the newly developed Information Technology (IT) area of Chennai, members of Spastic Society feel that the stretch of road they walk on everyday to school is not pedestrian friendly, especially for those with special needs.
The newly launched platform Walking Classes Unite hence conducted an audit of the stretch of road from the main entrance of Thiruvanmiyur Train Station (MRTS) to the entrance of Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu. The aim of this audit was to survey the conditions of the road with the special needs of disabled persons in mind. The platform also offers a forum in which regular users of this road can voice their concerns and suggestions for its improvement.
Around 150 people took part in the audit walk, including students, parents, staff members, and visitors. The walk was completed in 20 minutes; however, this timeline may not be an accurate representation of the time needed to walk this stretch of road daily because of the presence of the media and traffic police. The walk was stopped a few times for the media, while the traffic police assisted our walk across the intersection with ease, both of which would not happen on a normal day.
After the walk, we held a discussion with some of the students, parents and staff members. Five students (including three with physical disabilities), four special educators and two parents participated in the detailed audit discussion. As these people walk these roads everyday, they were able to describe conditions on different days and seasons. This report draws on their observations and remarks following the walk.
In this report, we will give a detailed description of the condition of the roads and then discuss recommendations for improvements that members of Spastic Society offered.
We will now review the path that we took during the audit walk in detail to better illustrate the difficulties that members of Spastic Society, as well as the general public, face daily in navigating these roads. The stretch of road from the exit of the MRTS to Spastic Society has been broken down in five parts.
Section A: From MRTS exit to the first intersection across the Old Mamallapuram Road (OMR)
Section B: Crossing the road from the first intersection on OMR to Tidel Park.
Section C: From Tidel park to the junction of and Taramani Road
Section D: From the junction to the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research.
Section E: Intersection between National Institute and Spastic Society.
Section A: From MRTS exit to the first intersection.
Although there was a sidewalk from the Thiruvanmiyur MRTS exit to the intersection of the Old Mamallapuram Road, participants were forced to walk on the service road alongside moving vehicles such as 2-wheelers. Participants were unable to use the pavement for the following reasons:
- Piles of gravel and sand from the construction of the MRTS, which blocked the sidewalk;
- Even where the sidewalk was free from obstruction, it was difficult for participants to get onto the pavement because of its height. People in wheelchairs in particular could not access the pavement from the service road as the pavement did not have a sloping access, thus, other participants had to lift the wheelchairs and place them on the pavement. Even people who are mobile had difficulties, such as Sudha, a visually challenged special educator, who said “I could not climb on to the pavement without support, I was helped by others.”
- Lack of space on the pavement. Even on regular days without the large groups, the pavement is generally full during morning peak hours around 8:30 to 10 am.
Thus, the participants were forced to walk on the service road, in dangerous proximity to moving traffic from both directions. Ironically, participants walking on the pavement were no safer from traffic than the ones walking on the road because 2-wheelers coming out of the underground parking of MRTS would climb onto the pavement in the opposite direction to traffic towards the pedestrians.
Despite the difficulties that the pedestrians face walking towards the intersection, they felt that this was still easier than using the foot overbridge located in front of the MRTS exit to cross the road because is difficult for persons with disabilities to utilize the stairs. Sasikala and Krithika, students from Spastic Society, said “we did not use the foot over bridge because we have calipers and cannot climb the high stairs”. Thus, the construction of the foot over bridge as a safe alternative for pedestrians is ineffective for persons with disabilities, elderly people, or, for that matter for anybody who are not in fit condition to ascend and descend 50 stairs each way.
Section B: Crossing the road from the first intersection on OMR to Tidel Park
Crossing the Canal Bank Road (West) from the MRTS towards Tidel Park would have been difficult with such a large group, so the traffic police allowed the group to pass the intersection without signals. This made crossing the intersection easy and quick. However, we estimate the normal wait time for crossing would be longer than 15 minutes. If the group were to cross in accordance with the pedestrian signals, they would have found it very difficult to complete this stretch for the following reasons:
The first problem that we would face was the malfunctioning pedestrian signal. There was a lorry accident earlier in the day that damaged one of the pedestrian signals, so the participants would not have had any traffic light to direct them for the first crossing.
Once we crossed the service road with the free left turn and were waiting to cross the major part of the carriageway towards Tidel Park, there would be no safe area for us to wait. The island that is meant as a safe waiting area for pedestrians cannot accommodate more than a few persons at a time due to the space taken by the plants.
We measured the time interval allocated for pedestrians to cross the road. To cross the Canal Bank Road, the green man signal for pedestrians lasted a mere 12 seconds. This is clearly far too little time for able-bodies persons, let alone persons with disabilities, to cross two lanes of traffic. Furthermore, there was no synchronization between signals for pedestrians and vehicles, so that when the green man signal was on, allowing pedestrians to cross, the free left turn signal for vehicles was also flashing. This puts pedestrians at risk to oncoming traffic.
Another problem at this intersection is that there were no audio signals available for the visually impaired walkers who use this road.
When crossing the main carriageway of OMR on the green signal, pedestrians while waiting at the median are at risk from vehicles making a U-Turn at the crossing. These vehicles use the pause in traffic caused by the pedestrian green signal to make their U-turns.
Section C: From Tidel Park to Junction of OMR and Taramani Road
The stretch of sidewalk from Tidel Park to the junction of OMR and Taramani Road Junction is a fairly good pavement, accessible even to wheelchair users due to its low height.
However, we were told by students and teachers participating in the audit that vehicles such as 2-wheelers and share autos use this sidewalk to avoid the one-way stretches on the OMR. This vehicle use has already damaged the sidewalk – sections of paving stones had come loose and caused a hazard to pedestrians, especially those with disabilities. As an attempt to stop these vehicles from encroaching on the pedestrian space, a pillar was laid across the pavement and a steel guard placed on the service lane. However, this has not stopped the vehicles from squeezing through the steel guards onto the side. Furthermore, the pillar became an obstacle for disabled pedestrians during our audit because they could not climb over it and were forced walk around the steel guard on the service road. There were many vehicles that were coming into the service lane at the same time, which put us in direct contact with oncoming traffic. The group felt that even on this good pavement, they did not have adequate space to walk.
Section D: From the junction to The National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research.
As we turned into the Taramani Road, the condition of the road worsened rapidly.
There were banner poles and a tree protruding from the pavement as obstacles to walkers.
Then the paved sidewalk stopped abruptly and was followed by uneven dirt pavement, which had a height of about 1.5 feet, discouraging for even an able-bodied person, and impossible for persons with disabilities to climb.
Even if a walker had climbed the tall pavement, she/he would have found it extremely difficult to continue walking on it, as there were 10 to 12 protruding man holes located 10 steps apart along the length of the pavement. If there are plans to pave this sidewalk to be level with the manhole covers, it will bring the height of the pavement to approximately 2 feet in height.
There were also open electricity lines exposed, which poses a potential hazard to all road users.
Further down the pavement, there was a tea shop that obstructed the sidewalk completely, forcing us onto the road again. At this point, we left the pavement and crossed over with the help of traffic police to Spastic Society.
Thus this pavement discouraged pedestrian use in numerous ways. Sasikala, a student of the school said: “When you see a pavement, you should feel ‘OK, this is safe, I can walk here’. But in this stretch we feel, ‘OK I’ll walk on the road’”
Section E: Intersection between National Institute and Spastic Society.
There was no zebra crossing for pedestrians to cross over to Spastic Society. Although traffic police helped us on that day, they are not usually there to direct traffic, leaving students to cross the busy street on their own. Since there are no signs indicating a school zone or speed limit, the traffic flow is usually continuous and fast. Vehicles do not stop for pedestrians crossing, and so the students would have to walk onto the road and signal for vehicles to stop.
In the middle of the road, the median was dug up leaving a gap in the cement that would be difficult for persons in wheelchairs to cross smoothly.
Moreover, vehicles on this stretch often used each one of the two lanes as a dual carriageway. So students had to cross three lanes of oncoming traffic instead of two.
The pavement on the other side has been fully dug up to install cables.
Other difficulties for pedestrians and public transport users:
Students and their parents pointed out a host of other difficulties they encounter in traveling to and from the school daily.
There were no zebra crossings at Madhya Kailash or on Sardar Patel Road, where many of them got down from buses to walk to the school. Sahikumar, a 14-year old boy who could walk with some difficulty often had to be carried by his mother over the barriers across the road, as they had no other way to cross the road to get to school.
The lack of space allocated for pedestrians puts them at risk from oncoming traffic, often unaware that these areas are heavily used by pedestrians. By leaving these pedestrian spaces unmarked, the pedestrian becomes invisible and unsafe. Small measures to ensure safety would make an enormous difference in the daily lives of these commuters.
Bus stops are often changed without notice. The old bus shelter near the school was broken and buses now refused to stop at this place, claiming that it was not a proper bus stop. Bus drivers, who are on a strict time line, show very little patience or consideration for bus users with disabilities who need more time to get on and off the bus.
One issue that came out during this discussion was the fact that facilities available often do not work. The students said that the lifts and escalators do not work at the MRTS stations. It was extremely frustrating to have facilities available for walkers, but be unable to access them due to maintenance problems.
The discussion highlighted how important issues of access were in making persons with physical disabilities feel empowered on a daily basis. Sudha, a visually challenged teacher at the school said “We don’t feel free to move around in this environment. It takes a lot of will power for us to go out and face the world daily, we have to constantly encourage ourselves and try to keep going. But then, when we face even minor accidents, or get hurt, all our will power is lost and we have to build it up again from scratch!” The feelings of powerlessness that people with physical disabilities sometimes experience are greatly exacerbated by factors such as facilities malfunctioning or lacking. For them, these are not just issues of road safety and development, but issues of access and power. How much power do you have over your own mobility and safety? When we asked if the participants felt threatened or unsafe at any point of time during the walk, Ambujam (a special educator) said that many of them felt extremely exhausted and they even thought that Vijaya (special educator with physical disability) would fall down.
Suggestions and recommendations by the participants
The participants recommended having a diagonal cross walk across the main carriageway from MRTS to Tidel Park, with a dedicated time for pedestrians to cross without any vehicle using the carriage way. More time should be allocated for pedestrians to cross the road, so that people with disabilities can cross comfortably. This arrangement would also ensure that no vehicles are doing U turns or free left turns when pedestrians are crossing the roads.
Effective policing should be installed to ensure that vehicles do not use the pavement to bypass the traffic in Section C. This would allow the barricade on the pavement to be removed, and make the pavement wheelchair-accessible again.
Participants said that they needed a bus stand with seating facilities across the road from the Spastics Society, as there are many mothers carrying children. Buses should be made to stop at the designated stop and allocate enough time for the bus riders to climb on and off the bus safely.
Since there is a school located on Taramani Road, there should be measures such as speed breakers installed to slow down the traffic on this stretch.
Students recommended having a regulated pedestrian crossing on Taramani Road to cross over to Spastic Society.
Students requested approach ramps to the pavements, preferably with handrails, to enable them to easily climb onto the pavements. They also recommended having handrails all along the pavements, which would make it easier for visually as well as physically challenged persons to walk on the pavements when crowded.
Another person, Sasikala, said that every time the pavement is well laid it is occupied by hawkers, obstructing walkers. A hawking zone should be identified on this pavement in a spot which does not force pedestrians off the pavement.
Conclusion
Members of Spastic Society who walk this road daily were extremely anxious for something to be done about their conditions of travel, and hence volunteered to undertake this audit at considerable inconvenience to themselves. The platform Walking Classes Unite brings the support of other pedestrians of the city to highlight the problems faced by these students.
The OMR, recently constructed and hailed as a model of state-of-the-art roads for Chennai city, already displays a number of problems of pedestrian access, particularly for the disabled. This audit re-examined the road through the eyes of persons with physical disabilities, revealing that the process of road planning, even with the sophisticated, high-investment resources that this road has received, becomes glaringly inadequate when it focuses only on the convenience of vehicles heading further down the road and neglects to take into account major institutional facilities in the area that will be using the road. We demand that authorities take immediate steps to remedy these oversights given the information contained in this audit.
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