The heavily-congested roads at East Fort have been regarded a death trap for motorists as well as pedestrians for long.
The concerted efforts of the district administration and the City police have proved successful in preventing fatalities in recent times. However, chock-a-block traffic remains a common sight in the area with no such initiative providing a permanent solution to the problem.
As many as 16 fatalities occurred in the area in the past two years with the last one being reported nearly six months ago. Ever since, the City traffic police have stepped up enforcement, increased the number of bus boarding points, and have streamlined vehicular flow, besides removing a bus bay which was adding to the congestion.
Barricades
Also, barricades have been erected to prevent pedestrians from crossing roads from any points other than zebra crossings. However, such measures are yet to attain the desired results.
“Despite our efforts, we find pedestrians walking by the side of medians and making a dash to cross roads. The lack of discipline and cooperation among pedestrians and motorists has hindered our initiatives,” says V. Jayachandran, Circle Inspector, Traffic (South).
According to the officer, a traffic aid post near the Sree Padmanabha theatre and additional deployment of personnel from the Traffic and Fort police stations have proved successful in maintaining the orderly flow of vehicles in the area. He adds that the pay-and-park facility introduced on the Kesavadasapuram-East Fort has been effective in preventing illegal parking to a large extent.
Moreover, severe penalties imposed on drivers of KSRTC and private buses, who engaged in rash and competitive driving, have proved a deterrent to habitual road rule violators.
Notwithstanding all such measures, the authorities are still at a loss at implementing an enduring traffic arrangement which ensures pedestrians’ safety and unobstructed vehicular flow.
A long-standing demand to construct three foot overbridges at East Fort remained on paper, despite several persistent efforts made by the city traffic police to implement them.
