Calcutta: More than half the number of victims in road accidents across the city in 2017 were pedestrians, according to police records.

Sources in Lalbazar identified jaywalking as the primary trigger for many accidents, reflected in 171 out of the 329 fatalities last year being pedestrians.

Prosecution data relating to jaywalking vindicate the police's view. Traffic cops prosecuted 60,205 people for jaywalking in Calcutta during the year, which works out to more than 165 offenders every day. Many times more jaywalkers would have got away without being caught.

Prosecution for jaywalking invites a nominal fine of between Rs 10 and Rs 50, depending on the implications of the offence. In Calcutta, it is the most visible form of traffic violation.

Be it walking down a road with a phone to an ear, jumping over a road divider or trying to stop a bus in the middle of the street, jaywalking occurs in many forms.

In this city, rampant jaywalking is also the consequence of footpaths being encroached upon and many streets not having any.

Metro highlights the factors that prompt Calcuttans to jaywalk at the risk to life and limb.

Signal to sprint

The average Calcutta pedestrian's infamous impatience at traffic signals has resulted in many deaths. In the past week alone, one person was run over at the Khanna crossing in north Calcutta and two on Rani Rashmoni Avenue in central Calcutta while trying to dodge traffic and go across the road when the signals were green.

A senior police officer said none of these incidents would have occurred had the victims waited for the traffic signals to turn red for vehicles.

Footpath failings

Pedestrians are forced to walk down the carriageway because the footpaths along several roads have been overrun by hawkers.

"How do we walk when the entire footpath has been encroached upon?" said a young man who runs an eyewear shop in Bowbazar. Hawkers alone aren't to blame. Garbage vats and electricity panels installed on footpaths are impediments too. In some places, there are no footpaths.

Reckless streak

In Calcutta, jaywalking is almost a tradition. And when you are dealing with a population of more than 4.5 million potential offenders, enforcement is a mountain to climb. "It is practically impossible to prosecute every jaywalker. People need to realise the worth of their lives. They have to realise that a short-cut to save a few minutes can have fatal consequences," a traffic officer said.

The police are trying to identify stretches of road where the crossover crowd percentage is high.

"Either ropes are being used to regulate pedestrian movement at those points or barricades are being put up to prevent their spilling onto the road," the officer said.

Callous drivers

When traffic is generally chaotic - bus and autorickshaw drivers are the main offenders - pedestrians inevitably become part of it.

"If a bus stops in the middle of the road instead of the designated stop, do I have any option but to run to the middle of the road to board the bus? It is almost a challenge to board and alight from a bus because it seldom stops. If you miss a step, you are dead," said a college student from Garia who travels every day by bus.

Last Friday, a 31-year-old man was injured when he came under the rear wheel of a moving bus that he was trying to board in Alipore.