Indian Cities Need to Prioritize Pedestrians

I was watching this documentary on YouTube — “Why Indian Cities Aren’t Walkable” — and it highlighted some serious issues that don’t get enough discussion, especially in car-focused communities like this.

• Pedestrians are at the bottom of the ladder compared to car owners: City planning in India goes all out for vehicles, while pedestrians (who make up a huge share of commuters) get little attention. Footpaths are broken, non-existent, or encroached—forcing people to walk on the road and risk their lives.
• Crossings are inconvenient and risky: Rather than safe ground-level crossings, we get foot overbridges and subways—mostly to keep vehicles moving, not to actually help walkers.
• Alarming rate of pedestrian deaths: In 2023, there were 35,221 pedestrian fatalities in India due to road accidents. Pedestrian deaths made up 20.4% of all road accident fatalities for the year.​
• Attitude towards walking: There’s a social hierarchy: walking is seen as something only the “unfortunate” do. This mindset trickles down into neglect of pedestrian needs and daily discomfort.

I hate driving my car in the city & would like to walk more, take the bus/metro.