This junction is a nightmare for pedestrians

Thiruvananthapuram: VJT Hall Junction, one of the major traffic junctions in the city, remains a nightmare for the pedestrians. Even when green signal for pedestrian crossing is on, vehicles arriving from Jubilee Hospital Road on to the junction continue to block the path of pedestrians crossing the road.
In June 2018, TOI had reported about the problems faced by pedestrians crossing the road. A day later, Keltron installed a no right turn signal at the junction in a bid to prevent motorists blocking the path of pedestrians. On Friday, it was observed that pedestrians are still struggling to cross the road as vehicles continue to take right turns at the junction and that too when pedestrian green signal is on. The vehicles coming from the Jubilee Hospital side often fail to notice that there is a no right turn signal. Absence of sign boards to warn motorists is cited as the major problem.

To ensure that pedestrians cross only at zebra crossings, railings were erected on medians. But now people in large numbers wait near the median after crossing half of the road for the vehicles to pass, putting their lives in danger.

According to Maruthamkuzhy resident Ananthu S, it is difficult to notice the newly installed ‘no right turn’ signal at the junction. “I am not a regular user of the road and so I barely noticed the presence of such a no right turn signal installed there. Vehicles ahead of me took right turns like always and I followed. It was only during a recent trip that I noticed the no right turn signal. I was not aware that we were obstructing the path of pedestrians. I have seen them wait in the middle of the road but only now did I realise that they were waiting because we were obstructing their path,” he said.

Kulasekharam resident Karthi Krishna said that fixing of railings on the medians has made it more of a challenge to safely crzoss the road. “The situation will only improve if stringent action is taken by the traffic police,” she said.

North traffic CI Sajad S said that the issue will be taken up seriously. “No right turn signboards will be placed to further alert the motorists who may be unaware about the no right turn signal,” he said.