KOLKATA: In a city where pedestrians comprise more than 55% fatalities in road accidents in a year, TOI has found several intersections where the time allotted to a pedestrian to cross an interaction is not enough for even a fit individual. While the pedestrian timer near the Kalighat Metro crossing allows pedestrians less than 6 seconds to cross a 80ft-wide road, the timer at the Jadavpur police station crossing allows a person just 3 seconds to cross the 60ft-wide street. In most cases, pedestrians only manage to go half way before the signal turns green for vehicles. TOI visited four key crossings and found how no one cares for pedestrians and how pedestrians themselves disobey rules.
At Deshapran Sashmal Road-Netaji Subhas Road crossing in Tollygunge, the traffic light for pedestrians turns green every 90 seconds, but for only 5 seconds, leaving pedestrians, autos and rickshaws jostling to cross the road at the same time. “How are we expected to cross in 5 seconds in this traffic? I can barely reach the middle of the road by the time the pedestrian signal turns red and vehicles start moving,” said Kudghat resident Dhritiman Ganguly.
The situation is worse at the Rashbehari Avenue-DPS Road crossing where pedestrians get 10 seconds to cross a 80ft-wide road every two minutes. To make things worse, the green light doesn’t work on at least one of the eight posts and the timer doesn’t work on at least three others. TOI found pedestrians running across the road even when vehicles began moving from multiple ends, making it a risky sprint.
The situation is similar at the Rashbehari Avenue-Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Road crossing where the timers allow a pedestrian only 5 seconds to cross the road. However, all the timers and lights were functional here.
The situation seemed worst at the Jadavpur police station intersection. At least one pedestrian signal was defunct and those crossing the road were given an impossible target of covering a 60ft stretch in three seconds. “I don’t want to violate the rules, but even before I could reach the median divider, the pedestrian signal turned red and vehicles began moving. For the rest of the road, I crossed like another jaywalker, raising my hand before approaching vehicles,” said Dhakuria resident Susmita Pal.
“We conduct timely review exercises and if any changes or repairs are required, we take necessary action. But, at the same time, pedestrians need to be aware of the rules and should not give the excuse of too little time to cross or faulty timers if caught jaywalking,” said an officer.
The cops had cut down the number of road accidents in 2019 to 267 from the 2018 figure of 294. However, in 2019, there were 151 pedestrian deaths against the 2018 figure of 146.
“Ideally, to cross a road with two lanes in each flank, a pedestrian should be allowed a minimum of 12-14 seconds. Here the transport planning is carried out with only motorists in mind and pedestrians are ignored,” said Ajay Das, former chief traffic and transport-ation engineer of the transport department.
At Deshapran Sashmal Road-Netaji Subhas Road crossing in Tollygunge, the traffic light for pedestrians turns green every 90 seconds, but for only 5 seconds, leaving pedestrians, autos and rickshaws jostling to cross the road at the same time. “How are we expected to cross in 5 seconds in this traffic? I can barely reach the middle of the road by the time the pedestrian signal turns red and vehicles start moving,” said Kudghat resident Dhritiman Ganguly.
The situation is worse at the Rashbehari Avenue-DPS Road crossing where pedestrians get 10 seconds to cross a 80ft-wide road every two minutes. To make things worse, the green light doesn’t work on at least one of the eight posts and the timer doesn’t work on at least three others. TOI found pedestrians running across the road even when vehicles began moving from multiple ends, making it a risky sprint.
The situation is similar at the Rashbehari Avenue-Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Road crossing where the timers allow a pedestrian only 5 seconds to cross the road. However, all the timers and lights were functional here.
The situation seemed worst at the Jadavpur police station intersection. At least one pedestrian signal was defunct and those crossing the road were given an impossible target of covering a 60ft stretch in three seconds. “I don’t want to violate the rules, but even before I could reach the median divider, the pedestrian signal turned red and vehicles began moving. For the rest of the road, I crossed like another jaywalker, raising my hand before approaching vehicles,” said Dhakuria resident Susmita Pal.
“We conduct timely review exercises and if any changes or repairs are required, we take necessary action. But, at the same time, pedestrians need to be aware of the rules and should not give the excuse of too little time to cross or faulty timers if caught jaywalking,” said an officer.
The cops had cut down the number of road accidents in 2019 to 267 from the 2018 figure of 294. However, in 2019, there were 151 pedestrian deaths against the 2018 figure of 146.
“Ideally, to cross a road with two lanes in each flank, a pedestrian should be allowed a minimum of 12-14 seconds. Here the transport planning is carried out with only motorists in mind and pedestrians are ignored,” said Ajay Das, former chief traffic and transport-ation engineer of the transport department.
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