Lockdown positives: Cyberabad traffic police launch road safety initiatives

Hyderabad: Lockdown is helping Cyberabad traffic police to improve road safety infrastructure across its jurisdiction. They have identified around 30 junctions in the commissionerate limits for improving infrastructure in such a way that it would inculcate road sense among users and also prevent jaywalking.

For instance, at the cyber tower junction, its centre is marked with yellow lines to indicate to the drivers that they are forbidden from stopping their vehicle on those lines.

Good road infrastructure coupled with civic sense can improve road safety. Towards this, they have started redesigning various junctions by taking up zebra marking, installation of signboards, railing on the central median and bollards at vulnerable road curves, among others.

According to Cyberabad traffic police, after close analysis and inputs from engineers, they have identified around 30 accident-prone junctions, including Cyber tower junction, Gachibowli junction, Nizampet junction, Aramghar junction, and others.

Also identified are high-risk roads which report frequent accidents like the NH65 stretch from Moosapet to ICRISAT, Old Mumbai Highway, road under the PVNR Expressway and others.

Explaining about the yellow boxes, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad Traffic S. M.  Vijay Kumar said, "In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the city, we have laid yellow boxes at the junction. They denote that once a vehicle enters the area it should not stop but keep moving. In others words, vehicles should enter the area when the way is clear for them."

They have analysed accident data and identified accidents that were mainly reported at the intersection of internal roads with the main roads. Either the sudden entry of vehicles coming from internal roads to main roads or vice-versa are resulting in accidents.

"To prevent this, we are planning for arrow marks at intersections, indicating that there is an internal road and a possibility of vehicles coming in. This cautions the road users and he can change gears accordingly," explained Vijay Kumar

"We can't deploy police personnel at each and every place to ensure compliance of rules. The problem is that most pedestrians lack civic sense. They cross the road wherever they want and indulge in jaywalking. To prevent this, we are preparing designated places for crossing the road so as to bring about orderliness. We have installed railings on medians to prevent jaywalking," he said, adding that lockdown has been helping in going about works aimed at improving road infrastructure.