12 out of 15 pedestrian environments rated unsafe by Delhiites, study finds

People in Delhi feel safer walking through areas with street vendors, police presence, CCTV cameras, and proper lighting, but the situation remains unconducive for pedestrians, a study by IIT Delhi and University College London has found.

The study conducted by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in collaboration with University College London, suggested clearing footpaths of vehicles and including vendor zones in pedestrian planning besides installing crossings near bus stops, improving street lights and increasing CCTV coverage.

Researchers surveyed 426 pedestrians across eight wards in south Delhi in 2022, covering roads near Metro stations, bus stops and market areas. Locations were chosen based on foot traffic, crash records and land use.

“Twelve out of fifteen general pedestrian environment were rated unsafe. These included fast-moving and high-volume traffic, lack of crossings near bus stops, parked vehicles near crossings, two-wheelers and cars on footpaths, lack of guard rails, poor lighting, absence of CCTV cameras or police presence, and walking post sunset,” the study read.

It further added that only medians for crossing, raised footpaths and the presence of street vendors were considered relatively safe.

“Footpaths are either missing or completely unusable in many areas. The surface is uneven, the height is wrong, and in some stretches, pedestrian space has been removed altogether during roadworks,” co-author of the study, Professor Geetam Tiwari of IIT Delhi told PTI.

The study noted that areas with vendors were seen as safer, as the activity and visibility on such streets made people feel more secure.

Among the 15 conditions studied, the presence of street vendors ranked as the single safest element in the pedestrian environment. Police presence and CCTV also added to the sense of safety.

It also found that people preferred flat or blocked footpaths over raised ones. The elderly in particular considered raised footpaths to be significantly safer than flush or obstructed paths.

According to the findings, although foot-overbridges exist in some places, most pedestrians said they avoided using them. These were seen as tiring and inconvenient, especially for elderly people and those carrying bags or goods.

“Foot-overbridges are not a solution for most people. Even globally, pedestrians tend to avoid them, as they are tiring and inconvenient, especially for older people,” Tiwari said.

It also noted that 43 per cent of the 1,461 fatal road crashes in Delhi in 2022 involved pedestrians and around 26 per cent of daily trips in the city are made on foot.

The researchers also compared findings with central London, where the infrastructure was better with continuous pavements, proper crossings and managed traffic, yet pedestrians in both cities said crossing roads with fast-moving traffic was uncomfortable.

However, concerns around poor lighting, safety and crime were much higher in Delhi.

Tiwari said that bus stops in Delhi are often not linked to safe crossings. “People do not always walk to the signal. If the bus stop is far, they tend to cross the road from where they are,” she said.

The study found that women reported feeling more unsafe than men, especially in areas with parked vehicles or missing guardrails. Surprisingly, elderly respondents aged above 60 did not always recognise fast-moving traffic as a threat, possibly due to their reduced ability to judge speed or danger.

The study was published in July 2025 issue of the journal of the International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences and was authored by PhD scholar Neba C Tony of IIT Delhi, along with Professor Geetam Tiwari, Taku Fujiyama, M Manoj and Niladri Chatterjee.