Death Trap! Caution : Walk At Your Own Risk….

Death Trap! Caution : Walk At Your Own Risk on the stretch of road in front of Kadri Kambla Field

Mangaluru: Pavements or death-traps? Speaking of those woefully-neglected walk-ways, the brave pedestrian will notice that most of Mangaluru’s pavements essentially present at least one of five potentially life-threatening hazards: “Fault-line”, where granite slabs are so haphazard and unstable, they look like the residue of a major seismic movement. “Trap-door”, where a stable-looking stone-slab caves into the underlying drain, taking the unfortunate pedestrian with it. “Rope-line”, which is a skinny strip of pavement where one has to walk in single-file while doing an almost literal tightrope. “Fill-in-the-Blanks”, where the pedestrian has to hop across missing or sunk slabs along the sidewalk; or “Line of Control”, which is the white-line on the edge of an asphalted road, insufficiently demarcating a crucial border, and thus not adequately pre-empting dangerous incursions.

But here in this report you will notice through the pictures how dangerous it is for pedestrians to walk on this stretch of road right in front of the once famous Kadri Kambla field. The workers have dug the sides of the road for installing underground drainage and footpath, but left it unattended without erecting safety barricades. There are chances when two heavy vehicles each on opposite direction, pass on this road, the pedestrian could be knocked down into the dip pit and may injured seriously or it could be a fatality due to the water collected in the pit. How careless could our city officials be by not having proper safety barricades along the sides of this construction site. Especially at night when this street has poor lighting, chances are someone may land up into this deep ditch.

As an ardent walker myself, where I take this stretch of this Kadri Kambla Road for my daily morning walk, I’m sincerely hoping my city’s roads will take me home… and not, to the mortuary, or the hospital. It is not only me complaining about this unsafe stretch of road, there are quite a few other morning walkers and other pedestrians who have raised their concerns about the safety, walking along the side of this road. Janet speaking to Mangalorean.com said, ” I am glad that you are highlighting this issue. Since this is my only way to my home I feel so scared to walk by this field. Look at it, it is so dangerous, if someone falls accidentally they will be injured or die. Why is our MCC so negligent when it comes to safety of citizens. Where is all our tax money going-we need safe footpaths and safe roads”. Is anyone in the MCC department listening or just listening and ignoring it, and then take action when someone gets injured or a fatality.

Mangaluru can lead the way in attaining this developing nation’s very critical goal – to set our vehicles and pedestrians on the right path. We are at the crossroads. Now we just have to give our walkers the safety right of way. All I could say is that the pedestrians will reach home safe only, if they are alert and extra cautious. Equally unsafe are people walking on the footpath, as at every 100 Mtrs, one can come across uncovered drains,uneven or broken concrete slabs. A slight distraction can cause a youngster or a senior citizen off balance and get himself injured. Whether we are driving a car or scooter, we all need extra traffic sense and patience to respect the pedestrian crossing or walking on the road, coupled with some innovative thinking by traffic authorities. As to the damaged foot path, why the so called concrete slabs don’t last long. The answer is simple, the poor quality of the material. Who do we blame? And regarding this unsafe walking zone in front of Kadri Kambla field, MCC officials need to take action quickly before someone gets hurt.