Traffic Jam & Children Alighting from Over Loaded Vehicles Mark St Agnes School Reopening Day
Mangaluru : Following close on its heels, after Team Mangalorean had highlighted about the traffic snarls created near Navabharath Circle and on the stretch of Kodialbail road, through a article published on 31 May 2019 titled ” School Reopening at Sharada Vidyalaya creates Traffic Snarl on Kodialbail Road ” due to the school reopening of Sharada Vidyalaya, today (1 June 2019) it was yet another nightmare for a vast majority of motorists and commuters who faced inconveniences and hardships stuck in the traffic jam, created due to the school reopening of st Agnes School, Bendore, Mangaluru- due to the vehicles dropping off the school children. And because of this mess, the one comment many parents, citizens, including the auto-rickshaw drivers had to say was , “WISH THE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT ALLOWED THE VEHICLES FOR AT LEAST 30 MINUTES DURING THIS PEAK HOUR INSIDE THEIR CAMPUS, WE WOULDN’T HAVE FACED ALL THIS CHAOS”.
But is anyone hearing the woes of these parents, citizens and others- I don’t think so. Traffic was backed up from the School till Kadri KFC Circle- and among the traffic jam was a ambulance trying to wade through the traffic, but all in vain, due to the median. Other schools and colleges need to learn from St Aloysius PUC, where during busy school hours, they allow vehicles to enter their campus, thereby drop the students and return- no hassles , no traffic jam and no inconvenience to anyone whatsoever. Why can’t others institutions follow such steps, when they have enough space inside the premises, instead of putting the life of commuters and motorists in jeopardy. This sitaution is not just today, but every single day of the school, during starting and end of school hours, and the innocent public has to face the brunt of it.
Yes, 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 St Agnes School, and with a bunch of vehicles of parents and others 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 member of a traffic warden squad was managing the traffic chaos, he had no other option but to call the top police officials, but his efforts were all in vain- since two cops arrived only a few minutes before the school opened, which didn’t serve the purpose. Oh well!
So starting today, and for the whole academic year of this school, motorists and commuters taking this stretch of this Bendore Road, have to bear with the consequences and expect reaching few minutes late at the work place. Other than the location at St Agnes Institution, other places where you can expect traffic chaos is near 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.
On 28 May, in spite of Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil undertaking an extensive awareness drive among stakeholders on transportation of people before school opened today, the awareness has never affected a bit, as Team Mangalorean noticed the vehicles (Auto-rickshaws, Mini Vans, Mini Buses etc) were over loaded with children, when they were dropped at this school in Bendore. Even parents were seen taking their children triple ride- is this what you call safety concerns of the parents over their children? Even though the Karnataka High Court has issued strict instructions to the law enforcers to ensure that no vehicle exceeds stated passenger capacity, but that has not changed a bit in how the vehicle owners/drivers operate in Mangaluru- and our cops have done not much either.
This has been going on for years, even after the tragic accident that took place in Udupi couple of years ago, where quite a few children perished in a accident- that example has not brought any awareness as of today. Just by implementing rules wont serve the purpose, the rules need to be enforced strictly. We have seen the situation in the past, and we are seeing it today- are we waiting for a major accident to happen (just like the one in Udupi) here, so that action could be taken ONLY after that? A humble request from Team Mangalorean to our beloved Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil and other higher authorities in the law enforcement dept to kindly enforce the rules strictly, and crack down on drivers/vehicle owners who bring children in over loaded vehicles.
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.
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. 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, you can see parents and other vehicle drivers being ignorant still trying to drive and park their vehicles near the schools.
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.
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.
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