Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Project on children's safety needs to be hastened

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Sept. 20. Even as the "Safer roads to school" programme of the city traffic police in association with school administrators is yet to pick up pace, careless bus and autorickshaw drivers continue to endanger many innocent young lives.

More than 50 per cent of pedestrians who get killed or seriously injured in road accidents are children below the age of 17, according to figures compiled by the police. In two recent incidents, a Class V boy fell down while trying to board a BMTC bus and had to be hospitalised with serious head injuries. In another case, a kindergarten girl fell off a school bus and was injured badly enough for a clot to form in her brain.

The "Safer roads to school" project needs the active cooperation of the Education Department and the BMP which between them oversee the administration of most schools, say the traffic police.

The campaign was to take off from June when schools reopened. Changes in school timings to avoid the rush-hour traffic, special traffic zones around schools, separate buses for children going to schools, and road safety lessons in classrooms are planned. Many are yet to be implemented because they need the active support of schools.

The Transport Department, also involved in the project, has asked for limiting speeds of school buses to 40 kmph. The department has suggested that school buses pick up and drop children inside the school compounds as far as possible. Drivers of school buses are to be given special training, including in first-aid, and those involved in more than two accidents may lose their licenses.

Bangalore has close to 13 lakh children going to schools by various modes of transport, including their own bicycles and privately engaged autorickshaws and vans. For greater safety, the traffic police have prohibited more than six children being taken in one auto.

The number of children who can go in a van is yet to be specified. It is still common to see more children than can safely travel, packed into autos. There are also parents who take three or more children on two-wheelers to schools. The same safety rules as for buses should be applied to private vehicles, the police feel.

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