The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Tiruchi News : Children at risk in the whirling maze of traffic City Pulse

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 12, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Children at risk in the whirling maze of traffic City Pulse

S. Ganesan

Strict enforcement of rules needed around city schools

— Photo: M. Moorthy

In A disarray: Children making their way through a labyrinth of vehicles near a city school on Wednesday.

TIRUCHI: With bewilderment writ large on their faces, a group of kids make a dash to the school. Just when they get within striking distance, they suddenly find themselves in a whirling maze of traffic – speeding buses and cars zoom past the roads, overloaded autorickshaws, taxies and vans honk their way around to offload more children, bustling motorcyclists and cyclists and haphazardly parked vehicles add to the chaos.

Weighed down by the backpacks and lunch bags, the kids skid and dart across dangerously, anxious to beat the school bell.

Well, it is peak hour in the city that has grown notorious for its erratic traffic and poor enforcement.

School zones are no exemption. Thousands of school kids are left vulnerable to accidents every day in many of the arterial roads in the city.

With most schools being located right on the arterial roads in the city, chaos prevails in most parts, when the schools open and close. The Chathram Bus Stand, Bharathidasan Salai, Thennur High Road, Madurai High Road and Melapudur, to name a few, have become dangerous school zones, where not only children are at high risk but also motorists.

Though police constables are posted in front of most schools, they struggle to manage the situation, given the flagrant violations and indiscipline of road users. With manpower constraints, the beats are often the casualty at times of VIP visits or when the men were drawn for other duties.

Most school managements tend to single out autorickshaw drivers as the main culprits. “We have repeatedly warned the drivers who carry school children. Yet, they park haphazardly in front of the school creating traffic snarls. Some of the drivers even force the children to cross the roads or walk some distance,” regrets the principal of a city school.

Parents dropping their children in four-wheelers and two-wheelers are no better, feel some others. Most of the vehicles are parked right on the roads.

The situation on the Bharathidasan Salai is a case in point, traffic on the road is almost brought to a standstill even on this widest road in the city during the school opening and closing hours, point out many road users. “Parents and vehicle drivers show no self-discipline and do not bother to take the extra care that is needed in school zones,” says a constable posted in front of a school.

Civic activists feel that school managements should be forced to allow vehicles, dropping children, into their campuses wherever possible. Some of the institutions adamantly refuse to do so though they have adequate space. “Either the schools should be forced to allow the vehicles inside their campus or the police should restrict parking around the schools,” says S. Pushpavanam, Secretary, Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu.

“The police have a major role to play in protecting the children from the risk. Only strict enforcement of traffic rules could improve the situation,” feels M. Sekaran, Convenor, Federation of Service Organisations.

The ever increasing number of vehicles on the road had made the problem acute and the anxiety levels of many a parent have shot as the schools reopened after vacation.

Many parents feel that parking and road crossings should be regulated in the school zones. Wherever possible, diversions should be enforced. The police could even think of installing pedestrian crossings with automatic signals at school zones to provide safe passage for children, says S. Malathy, a parent.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu