Daredevilry:at what cost?

Secunderabad: Broad stretches of roads at Rasoolpura, Secunderabad, and Begumpet allow motorists to drive at faster speeds posing threat to public life. Absence of traffic signals, zebra crossings and speed breakers at regular intervals often lead to road rage in the Secunderabad expanse. 

Zebra Crossings too are at limited places and dysfunctional as many motorists station their vehicles over or ahead of it forcing people to stray away onto the roads. Senior citizens can' t cross the road without being verbally abused by raging motorists. In order to reach the other side of the road quickly, pedestrians run across the avenue causing inconvenience to the speeding motorists.

Despite signboards of schools and hospitals, bikers and car drivers do not seem to slow down. "Even though we have a zebra crossing in front of our school, it is always risky to cross the roads at any given hour due to the heavy crowds that commute regularly on this route and since there are no traffic signals here, we have to wait till either the traffic police or our school staff guide us. 

Moreover, there is only one pedestrian crossing near our school, so it takes more time for us to reach the other end of the road," says Gayatri, a student of St Anns High School.

Missing pedestrian crossings at the newly constructed road dividers between the metro pillars adds to the woes of the pedestrians. The dividers which were decked with plants to enhance the green cover in the city are being misused by teenagers who jump over it to cross the road instead of finding the pedestrian crossing or the divider end. "To drive in the Begumpet route has become a big headache even during the day. 

The other day while I was traveling to my office in Somajiguda a teenager sprung up from over the divider and landed right in front of my two-wheeler. Luckily, I managed to press the brake on time else we both would have met with a fatal accident." shares Sudheer, a motorist. 

Although traffic police were helping pedestrians to cross the roads at major traffic junctions, many people still suffer the brunt of traversing through crowded avenues risking their lives. "Earlier there was at least one foot over bridge to facilitate pedestrians near the SP Road but as the metro came up, we are forced to cross the busy roads knowing that we would be putting ourselves in danger. 

In fact, many accidents take place near the turnings as the pedestrians can't see the speeding vehicle. However, the authorities could have simply avoided these situations if they had conducted pedestrian crossing at every 200 or 300 meters.  

I feel the concerned officials must also look into fixing traffic signals near schools and hospitals. Sine the crowd cannot be stopped from crossing roads the least we could do is monitor their movement." opines Balakrishna, a resident at Sardar Patel Road.