Instead of trying to enforce traffic rules on Indian roads, planners pretend they're playing the lion hunt game and arrange a meeting to discuss the problem of pedestrian access at busy intersections:
Oh, Oh
Busy intersection ahead.
Can't go over it.
Can't go under it.
Best we spend over 1 crore rupees and build an elevated footbridge.
from The Hindu
These footbridges are unnecessarily high so generally people weigh their options of possible death crossing the roads and being out of breath and opt for death. Here comes the first footbridge modification:
Gates.
Rationale: If pedestrians are blocked from crossing the street then they are forced to use the footbridges.
Advantages: Death is rare.
Disadvantages: Not wheelchair accessible and turns crossing the street into an Olympic feat.
Gates were put up around Leela Palace in Bangalore and almost immediately you could see that some of the gates were broken down so that people could slide through and cross the road. Conclusion: stairs suck more than death. Engineers of all types get together (because engineers run India regardless of their qualifications) and discuss the problem:
Mechanical engineer: Why don't people want to use the footbridge?
Electrical engineer: Indians don't like stairs.
Civil engineer: Yes, the stairs are a problem. Now in a country like India where no one has reliable electricity and anything we build will be heavily used and require a great deal of maintenance, I think our only option is to replace the stairs with an escalator.
That one guy who got his MBA in America and drinks lattes now: We'll pay for it all through advertising.
Electrical engineer: We can get energy cost-cutting firms to back us so we'll actually be SAVING electricity.
Civil engineer: You're so forgetful, Electric. The stairs used less electricity than the escalator.
Electric engineer: Tee hee, but you already forgot that you're in India and these escalators will most likely break in a month and no one will fix them!
Mechanical engineer: So they're just as energy efficient as the stairs. We win!
Guy from NGO: Hey I'll put together a design manual so this idea can be implemented all over India by city officials who don't understand planning as well as we do!
Chemical engineer: You guys are my best friends, seriously. Friends forever.
