School Reopening at Sharada Vidyalaya creates Traffic Snarl on Kodialbail Road
School Reopening at Sharada Vidyalaya at Kodialbail-Mangaluru creates Traffic Snarl on the stretch of Kodialbail Road and near Navabharat Circle
Mangaluru : It is once again that time of the year, where the citizens and motorists have to face the hassles and inconveniences due to traffic jams, during beginning and after school hours. And today being the first day after summer vacation at Sharada Vidyalaya School, and with a bunch of their own school buses plus those vehicles of parents dropping the children at the school gate, became a nightmare for many of the office going citizens of Mangaluru, who were stuck inside the city buses or on their own vehicles during the traffic snarl, just because of ONE SCHOOL? It was between 7.45 am-8.30 am that traffic was disrupted due to this school opening hours. Even though a traffic circle who happened to pass by Navabharat Circle, stopped there for five minutes or so in controlling the traffic- but he cooly disappeared from that place. How nice, that a traffic circle inspector couldn’t stay there for few more minutes, to ease out the situation?
So starting today, and for the whole academic year of this school, motorists and commuters taking this stretch of this Kodialbail Road, have to bear with the consequences and expect reaching few minutes late at the work place. And starting tomorrow ( 1 June ) when schools open at many other institutions in the City, commuters and motorists will be looking forward to bear the traffic jam situation, and sit patiently on or in their vehicles until the traffic jam is cleared.Other than the location at Sharada Vidyalaya, other places where you can expect traffic chaos is near St Agnes School-Bendore, St Theresa School-Bendore Rd, Gerosa School-Jeppu, Canara School-Dongerekere, Capitanio School located on a busy Mangaluru-Bengaluru highway, Milagres School-Hampankatta, among many other schools.
With thousands of vehicles transporting over lakhs of children to and from school every morning and evening, areas around schools has become a traffic nightmare. Not just for motorists and pedestrians, but most importantly, for school-going children. Several schools in the city are in clusters and with crowds at the gates, it often hampers the flow of regular traffic, especially on busy roads. The result: unmanned traffic, accidents, time wasted, traffic jams and huge risks to schoolchildren. The solution is to Ease traffic congestion around schools during opening and closing hours. Why is this important: It’s a growing problem that needs to be addressed, given that the number of vehicles is on a steady increase. Also, accidents involving school children are on the rise. Who are the culprits: Parents in four and two wheelers, auto rickshaw drivers, maxicabs, mini school buses, and private buses- and of course, the bunch of large size school owned buses.
Unprecedented in scale, the city’s mounting traffic congestion has pushed every management strategy to the edge. But as the traffic police struggle, another mammoth crisis has hit Mangaluru roads magnifying the problem manifold: Crowding of vans and personal cars outside schools in the busy city streets. The extreme congestion sparked off by the inflow and outflow of school vehicles unleashes virtual gridlocks on many City roads including Bendore Road/Kodialbail Road, and a dozen streets in the vicinity. Scurrying for clues to resolve this rising problem, many parents and citizens are asking school management to find parking for their vehicles within the campus. One parent said that an attempt after a meeting with managements met with only limited success, since many schools reported that they had no space within, even when there was a scope for it.
Combing a child’s hair, a parting kiss and last-minute instructions from inside the car and right outside the school gate—a perfect recipe for a traffic jam and the resultant noise and honking. School authorities blame this everyday scene for the chaos that disturbs the neighbourhood. “Arrival of students by cars is a nightmare. It slows down traffic and then drivers begin to honk constantly,” said a nearby resident that houses two schools, St Agnes Institution, Bendore; and St Theresa’s School, near Horticulture. Ironically, the area around an educational institution is considered a silence zone.
The city has hundreds of schools with thousands of students each, many of them situated in narrow by lanes. The civic authority has an internal department to study traffic density and road networks and ensure that all proposed school buildings have ample parking inside their premises. Sources reveal that in spite of several schools have also written to traffic police but their complaints have not evoked an adequate response. Traffic cops, on their part, said they were making efforts. The problem is that several schools have their entrance right on arterial roads. During peak hours, multiple vehicles ferrying students cause snarls as they all assemble at one spot.
Many a times ambulances who rush the ailing patients to hospitals get stuck in this mess- and the worst part is that even though the ambulances are trying to wade through the congestion, I saw parents and other vehicle drivers being ignorant still trying to drive and park their vehicles near the schools. Yes, we all know this ongoing traffic jam near City schools have been going on for years- and still no one has come to a solution to end this problem. Even though many schools have enough space in their premises are reluctant to use them, so that the vehicles could enter the premise, instead of crowding the streets. Another thing to blame for traffic jam is the present generation being lazy- children who live nearby to their schools are dropped to their respective schools by their parents by vehicles. Why can’t the parents make their children walk to school if its nearby? I bet the parents walked when they went to school. I walked 6-7 kms to and fro when I went to school/college at St Aloysius Institution, Mangaluru.
There is no one to control traffic near schools and for those of us who walk or cycle to school, it is not even possible to cross the road. There is always a crowd at the school gate and vehicles all around. Most schools do not have provision for parking on premises and parents are expected to drop their wards off at the school gate. Parents resort to parking on the roads. Shanthi Shetty, a parent says, “Private autos are not too safe. I cannot send my eight-year-old to school all alone. Why can’t schools allow entry and parking on premises at least during school timings?” Jennifer, another parent adds, “Schools just assign a security guard who can barely handle the quantum of vehicles here. There is no police to control the traffic. Indeed a sad story. “
Various efforts made to solve traffic congestion have yielded little results. What do you think is a concrete solution? Is there anything the authorities, parents or the schools can do? If you have any suggestions or comments, write in to info@mangalorean.com, and we will forward it to the concerned people or highlight it in our website. One solution that could help is-Staggering the opening/closure timing of clusters of these two schools in close proximity is another de-congestion move that could be adopted by the traffic police or the school managements. One school can start 15 mins early/ and close 15 min early than the other-this could decongest the traffic. The staggering works this way: One school will close only 15 minutes after the other school in the vicinity closes for the day. This, according to traffic police officials, will give enough time for parents and school vans to pick up the children and leave the area, thus avoiding crowding and congestion. Within five minutes, the traffic is expected to get automatically cleared.
Traffic experts also say lack of lane discipline among motorists is another stumbling block to quick decongestion. The unbridled rise in vehicular numbers only adds to the mounting challenges. Parking of private vehicles should be strictly banned during the school opening and closing hours. Illegal parking of private vehicles, mostly two-wheelers and auto rickshaws, has been causing traffic congestion near many schools. Most of these vehicles belong to parents who drop and pick their wards. Though students, parents and the public at large are affected, the issue remains unattended.
Many private schools are located along the arterial roads and important roads in the city. Since these vehicles are not allowed inside the premises, students are dropped near the school. During morning and evening hours the traffic is hit. During evening hours, the presence of more vehicles completely block the movement of vehicles. Many parents want the vehicles to be allowed on the school premises. Despite presence of adequate space on the premises, the management is stubborn and ignorant by not allowing vehicles inside. Parents say that they have difficult time before and after school hours as the safety of their children is in question.
Absence of traffic police personnel is also worsening the situation and reckless driving of private bus drivers cause uneasiness for parents. They demand permanent posting of police personnel outside the schools and also wanted the school grounds to be opened for parking vehicles after school hours. Sources reveal that even though a joint meeting was held between school management, parents, police authorities long ago-the initial response was encouraging, but over a year after the meeting, not much seems to have changed. Try going through a school zone during peak school hours and you will see for yourself that chaos still reigns all around.
Me and my brothers also walked few kilometers from our home in Kadri to St Aloysius school/college daily during our school and college days- we never had bicycles, bikes, nor our parents dropped us in a BMW or Maruthi car. We earned our education a hard way, and we all three are proud of it. I wish the present kids follow in our footsteps and start walking to school, rather than sit in the back seat with their mom or dad being the chauffeur of the four-wheeler. We need to blame the parents for spoiling the kids- it’s time to make a change. Let your children walk to school if you live nearby- this will reduce some traffic congestion. Thanking you in anticipation, if you consider my request!