manoj

Impromptu parking zones in front of schools leave drivers at their wits’ end and throw traffic out of gear twice every day.

For those who have a school in their neighbourhood, life turns into a nightmare twice every day. Every morning and afternoon — when the children troop in and out — the areas turns into hell and traffic goes haywire. Irrespective of the width of the road in front of the school, three-lane or four-lane parking zones spring up. Kolkata Police’s traffic department ranks school parking as the city’s greatest traffic woe.

Most schools are located on major thoroughfares and arterial roads and these part-time illegal car parks make commuting a hellish experience for those living in these areas. Chaos prevails every day on Rawdon Street, Loudon Street and AJC Bose Road, with cars making a beeline to drop children at the two La Martiniere schools. “The snarl apart, the noise, too, is unbearable. A hospital is located nearby. Yet, guardians of children just honk their way into the school. It is a nightmare passing along any of these streets before or after school,” said Asok Trivedi, a local resident.

The situation is more acute these days as school buses have largely been replaced by car pools, which pick up children from their doorsteps and drop them back home. The problem has been compounded as the number of cars have been increasing as well. This compounds the problem and has a direct bearing on the problem of traffic snarls, said chief traffic and transportation engineer B K Sadhu.

DC (traffic) Jawed Shamim said, “This is the single largest problem we are facing right now. It can be solved to a large extent if schools cooperate with us. In spite of having enough space inside, schools do not allow cars to park there for more than 10 to 15 minutes.” If only schools whose timings clash with office hours alter their routine, half the problem would be solved, felt another traffic police officer.

St Thomas School has a huge open space inside its compound. Earlier, cars and buses were allowed to park inside. But authorities aped other schools and prohibited parking inside. Now, they do not even allow teachers to park their cars inside. So all vehicles for students and teachers are parked outside, blocking the tram tracks and carriageway. Traffic police officers say it is a harrowing task for them to maintain traffic flow every day.

Police are compelled to be lenient as towing away vehicles for violating traffic laws may complicate matters. There might be a noisy protest. Moreover, children would be stranded, which is undesirable. So, we allow multiple lane parking in front of schools for some time.


Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com (Kolkata Edition)
Date Of Publish: 26-Apr-07

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manoj

WHAT TRAFFIC TRAVAILS SAY

It takes around 20 minutes to cross the stretch between Mominpur and Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, which is just a five-minute drive. Often we are late when we travel between 8.30 am and 9.30 am in the morning. The stretch is literally impassable, with the traffic going haywire to find a way through the maddening rush. Cars are parked on both sides of the street at this time Abiskar Sinha | AIRLINES EXECUTIVE


Traffic planning is such that chaos is bound to happen. Schools are on the arterial roads and during the rush hours, there is complete indiscipline. Moreover, there are traffic signals at which the cars have to stop for almost 10 to 15 minutes. If the schools are in the vicinity, the rush is even greater and there is a complete free for all, which can even lead to accidents Laboni Sarkar | ACTOR I stay beside Carmel High school in Selimpur. It is indeed difficult to avoid the traffic chaos during those times when there is some urgent work. Since the matter concerns just kids, I never feel angry about the snarl Buddhadeb Dasgupta | FILMMAKER


It is virtually impossible to park a car in front of Don Bosco in the morning. Again, when the school gets over, cars honk constantly and every vehicle tries to park as close to the school gate as possible — creating chaos. Even crossing the street and reaching the bus stop with the kids turn into a daunting task Rakhi Ghosh | GUARDIAN OF A CLASS-X STUDENT

To ensure smooth flow of traffic, there is a traffic guard, who controls cars during the arrival and departure of kids. The teachers are given bus duty to see that no kid loiters on the street. School staff also try to maintain discipline. No private cars are allowed to enter the premises without permission Malini Bhagat | PRINCIPAL OF MAHADEVI BIRLA GIRLS’ HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL

Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com (Kolkata Edition)
Date Of Publish: 26-Apr-07

__________________
Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool.