Detrimental progression

India's car-centric urbanisation underscores the urgent need for people-focused urban planning that prioritises walking, cycling, and public transport to ensure safer, healthier, and more sustainable cities

- KUSH MOHAN MITTAL

One. That's the number of dedicated pedestrian crossings on Gurgaon's 16-lane Golf Course Road, which stretches over 9 kilometres, barring a few arduous excursions that some metro stations offer. Passing along this road, it's hard not to notice the irony: India, a country with no notable success in Olympic track and field events—unintentionally trains its people in dashing, jumping, and ducking. Helpers serving the residents of these 100-crore flats risk their lives daily, sprinting across speeding vehicles and vaulting over barriers partitioning the road, sometimes even performing these stunts with bicycles.

In 2023, India faced a grim reality with 4.8 lakh road accidents and 1.72 lakh fatalities, the highest globally, while unofficial estimates reveal an even more heartbreaking and overwhelming toll. While much of the onus is placed on the disregard for the law, the deeper issue, the relentless proliferation of larger, more dangerous vehicles dominating our cities, remains unaddressed. As we continue to operate under the philosophy that adding one more lane will solve our mobility needs, we need to reconsider the repercussions of designing a country of 1.5 billion voices around cars.