The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : Pedestrians take risky shortcuts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 29, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Pedestrians take risky shortcuts

VISAKHAPATNAM: Increasing number of vehicles will naturally result in stricter traffic control measures. And pedestrians generally get a raw deal because the focus is on vehicles.

For pedestrians, particularly those peddling their ware or running around for errands to earn a living, covering some more distance on foot just to go to the other side of the road at the zebra crossing does not appear to be worth the while.

On several thoroughfares one often sees pedestrians scrambling to cross the road. Hence the shortcut.

It's a question of taking risk for the sake of convenience.

That's what the stream of pedestrians in the picture is doing at Isukathota. They have removed a vertical bar on the metal divider to cross the road.

Threat to motorists

For pedestrians it appears to be a simple matter, that is, until something untoward happens. But for motorists zipping past any jaywalker is a potential threat. Avoiding a wavering pedestrian caught in the onrush of traffic is a tricky job.

With everyone in a hurry, even a slowdown is sometimes not possible. The only way left is to close the opening.

With still a long way to go for people to acquire civic sense and road sense, too, there is no guarantee that it will not be breached again.

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