How Should the Pedestrian Cross the Road?

Many Rolls Royce cars have a sheer vertical drop front design. And while they are extremely powerful and can go fast, they normally don’t, because they are meant to transport their occupants safely, in luxury, and in a refined manner, not to indulge in drag races. And so the vertical drop might be alright on it.

But when it comes to a crowded country like India, while aerodynamic design might not count for much when you are inching through traffic, one car design has stood out for me for exactly that reason.

The 2006-10 Honda Civic (left in the image), while not exactly beautiful, was futuristic- and great-looking for its time. But most importantly, it was a great design for places like India. In India, on average, about 45-60% of all road traffic injury and deaths are suffered by motorcyclists, and another nearly 20% are pedestrians.

A number of motorbike accidents could be chalked to recklessness and not following traffic rules. And bikers are on motorized vehicles, so they have a semblance of control.

However, if we only consider pedestrians and car design, there would be a correlation between the frontal shape and design of a vehicle and what happens to the pedestrian on impact at different speeds.

The aerodynamic front of the Civic was designed such that any impact with a pedestrian would be roughly below the knee of an adult. And the sloping design of the hood would dissipate some of the force and cause the person to be taken towards the sides and off the car. While still extremely scary for pedestrians, it was a far better option than being flung over the top of the car. Or worse, being flung backwards with full impact.

And that is exactly what I find puzzling about practically ever hatchback, compact sedan and sedan across brands in the 2024 range in India.

It is as if all the brands came together, picked one single designer to design for all of them. They gave that person a ruler and a crayon, and said they would accept whatever design was given to them without any question or reasoning.

And the result, cars from hatchbacks to sedans and SUVs that are shaped like a tank with a wall in front of it. Sheer vertical. Any pedestrian impact would involve a 100% force hammering nearly up to waist-level, as none of the force will be dissipated thanks to the vertical drop. And anything coming into contact would be flung backwards.

Whatever happened to designing for safety of all road users, especially pedestrians, who are most at risk?

In a country with narrow roads with missing footpaths (sidewalks), or footpaths impossible to walk on, and extremely wide roads with no safe crossing at reasonable walking distances; the only option people have is to gamble with their life each time they need to just cross the road.

And while astronomical budgets have been assigned to and spent on our highways and road infrastructure, the least that could have done for pedestrians is have cars designed to be a little safer for them.