Former Minister and Rajajinagar BJP MLA S. Suresh Kumar sought the Home Minister’s intervention to resolve woes faced by pedestrians and cyclists on the city’s roads.
Mr. Kumar, a bicycle enthusiast, in his letter to Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, a copy of which is available with The Hindu, has sought deployment of dedicated officers to ensure the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in all traffic zones in the city.
“The free left turn and right turn at many prominent junctions across the city, has only meant a continuous movement of vehicles making it difficult for women, schoolchildren, and senior citizens to cross the roads. Motorists seem to be the focus of road safety and traffic management, even as pedestrians and cyclists are being neglected,” he said in the letter.
Satya Shankaran, bicycle mayor of the city, said this had been a pending demand from cyclists and pedestrians in the city. “Construction of good footpaths in the CBD area is not enough. We need proper planning across the city, pedestrians and cyclists have to be a priority and traffic police need to book cases and take stringent action against violators,” he said.
Acknowledging the lacuna, a senior traffic police official said that considering the present road design engineering and the growing number of vehicles, every other road user was at risk in the city.
“We have tried taking several measures like setting up bicycle lanes, elevated footpaths, pelican signals among others. But due to lack of awareness and lack of discipline, these measures have come to a naught,” he said.
B.R. Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner (Traffic), Bengaluru, said they will consider the suggestion to post a dedicated officer in each zone. He also said that while he did not see how free right turns were posing a problem, he admitted free left turns may have become a hurdle for pedestrians.
“We cannot let go of free left turns altogether. But we can stop them for some time in the signal cycle to let pedestrians cross the road,” he said.
He also added that the Bengaluru Traffic Police had taken up a campaign for lane discipline to ensure safety of pedestrians and cyclists.
