The Hindu Business Line : Three Ds of transportation

Cars and motorcycles, trucks and buses are what predominantly populate the roads. No, we need the roads for walking and cycling too, insist Christopher G. Boone and Ali Modarres in City and Environment (www.pearsoned.co.in).

But can pedestrians and cyclists be safe on roads? Yes, through careful planning, education and enforcement of traffic laws, assures the authors, citing examples from across the globe. For instance, in Germany, pedestrian fatalities dropped by 82 per cent, over the period 1975 to 2001; cyclist fatalities fell by 64 per cent, though ridership increased by 50 per cent.

The US too has seen reduction in pedestrian fatalities, even as death rates from car accidents continue to be high; motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for persons age 2 to 33, according to the US Department of Transportation. Boone and Modarres call for the application of three Ds when planning transportation: Density, diversity, and design.

"Compact, high-density cities tend to encourage more walking, cycling, and public transit use than do sprawling cities and suburbs." The authors discourage subsidies for parking in central cities, because such sops can encourage car use and lead to congestion on roads.

Europe has a higher transit use and non-car travel compared to the US, mainly because "the cores of many European cities were built long before the arrival of the automobile." Streets are, therefore, "narrower, and buildings are closer to the street, to serve walkers rather than parking."

Diversity and land use

Diversity, the second D, is about land use. You can encourage walking and cycling, "by mixing residential land uses with shopping, workplaces, parks, recreational spaces, places of worship, and so on." That way, distances between origins and destinations tend to be shorter, the authors reason. Where zoning laws "separate nuisance land uses from residential areas, distances tend to be greater, encouraging people to drive rather than walk." Walking can be inviting if there is something interesting to see, such as "shaded streets, benches for sitting, and diversity of services." Alas, most suburban areas are but `blandscapes', which may not interest walkers. "Most people would rather hurry by familiar suburban scenes to get to their destinations, taking little pleasure in the travel itself."

The third D, design, which we currently have, is "a product of the automobile age," rue the authors. "The curvilinear design and cul-de-sac are meant, in part, to reduce through traffic, but ironically they encourage more car use. Circuitous routes mean that even travelling to a friend's house discourages walking or cycling." To add to the woes of the lesser mortals, town planners "have stopped putting in sidewalks."

Shopping malls

Strangely, shopping malls can perhaps succeed where roads have failed. "Even traditional enclosed shopping malls, some of which are designed to look like city streets, appeal to the desire of people to walk and see other people in a convivial setting." How different that would be from outbursts of road rage that have only become all too common on the urbanscape! "Meeting the latent demand for walking, the original human means of locomotion, should be part of any urban design, given the benefits to physical and mental health."

D. MURALI

More Stories on : Transport | Urban Development | Accidents

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Japanese thrust

60, and at the crossroads

India-Israel tango gains pace

Contretemps over nuclear deal

Getting back on the bike

Three Ds of transportation

Pains from the sub-prime fiasco

Titanium project

Work clusters