Wide junctions left unregulated

There are a lot of junctions in the City where the roads are wide but there are no demarcated areas for pedestrians to walk on or cross. 

Cops remain missing from the scene, leaving pedestrians to negotiate these wide, unregulated junctions at their own risk. 

Taking stock of this problem, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Bangalore Traffic Police have come together and identified seven prominent, problem-prone pedestrian junctions that need urgent repair.

Metrolife interacted with the BBMP authorities, traffic police and ordinary people 

to understand why wide roads are among the most mismanaged. 

The seven junctions are Trinity Circle, Madiwala, Siddapura Junction, Havnoor Junction near Basaveshwara Nagar, Hebbal near Esteem Mall, Yeshwantpur Junction near Metro and Lalbagh West Gate. 

The BBMP claims that the 400 kms of road, taken up for repair and relaying of pedestrian paths, are an indispensable part of the plan. 

M Lakshminarayana, commissioner of BBMP, reasons that there are several people who wait at these junctions before crossing the road and sometimes, due to the lack of footpaths, they are forced to wait on the road and this could lead to an accident. 

“We have decided to do up the pedestrian paths with cobblestones rather than tiles because tiles prevent percolation of water. Also, unlike existing pedestrian paths, these new pedestrian paths will be enclosed and ensure that pedestrians are safe,” explains Lakshminarayana. 

He further states that these junctions have been identified after a thorough study of the situation.

 

B Dayananda, additional commissioner of police (traffic), says that there is a programme for sprucing up pedestrian paths called ‘Sugama Safe Walk’. 

This includes doing up wide junctions where the zebra crossings will be painted and barricades will be erected to ensure people don’t cross at random places. 

“The entire programme will be completed in three months. We have already started work in front of Lalbagh West Gate where provision has been made in the middle of the road for pedestrians to wait and then disperse. This cordoned off space will ensure that they are safe from being hit by the oncoming traffic,” he says. 

When asked why there aren’t always policemen at these junctions, Dayananda states, “There are always two policemen at any junction. When there is less traffic flow, there would be only one cop and traffic will move according to the signal lights.”

 

People say that they have a definite problem getting across wide traffic junctions. Not only is the flow of traffic poorly coordinated, pedestrians suddenly running across the road, say motorists, are thoroughly distracting. 

Adishesh Thomas, an employee with Thomas and Cook, says, “It’s impossible to cross these wide junctions as there are no cops to help pedestrians get across to their respective destinations.” 

Maheshwari, a student, recalls that she met with a bad accident while trying to avoid a pedestrian who was suddenly trying to run across the road. 

“There was nobody to help me and in fact, the cop asked me to clear out because I was causing a traffic jam.”

Varsha, another student, thinks that people have developed what is called a ‘by-stander syndrome’ where they don’t like to help anybody in trouble or be witness to any accident.

“Pedestrians are always at the risk of being hit, thanks to unregulated traffic and missing pedestrian paths,” Varsha sums up.