Police on toes after festive-month fatalities cross fog-season numbers in Kolkata

KOLKATA: September and October usher in the festive season in Kolkata. Yet, in the past two years, these two months have also recorded the highest number of accident fatalities. The numbers were unusually high last year. In fact, December and January — the months that would usually record the maximum number of deaths on roads were left far behind.
In 2018, 73 people lost their lives during the festive season against 55 in January and December,2018, the months when fog and mist contribute heavily to accidents.

The police top brass has now asked individual guards to ensure pedestrian safety and create channels for parking during Puja to bring down accidents. “Since a lot many people descend on the streets from all corners, there is a possibility that crowd space will be invaded. We have received several proposals from Puja organizers to introduce barricades early on. Though this will hamper the speed, we are trying to identify places to implement this,” a senior officer at Lalbazar explained.
Each traffic guard has been asked to provide solutions. Some measures that could be implemented are ropes at crossings to stop pedestrians from spilling on to the roads and ensuring that cars and buses use only dedicated lanes at three-four points of crowding.
“The concept is simple. At present, we try to keep one flank open even as we stop traffic on the others in order to help the motorists cross the important crossings smoothly. However, this does not allow pedestrians enough time to cross the road. They are often left in the lurch halfway through the crossings as signals turn green for vehicles,” a cop said.
“We now propose to stop vehicles on all ends to allow pedestrians enough time to cross easily. This will also, hopefully, stop the tendency of most citizens to throw caution to the wind when they abruptly try to cross without waiting for the signal changes,” explained a senior officer. Police said that while timers will be used, the Lalbazar control room will keep the duration of these signals flexible, depending on vehicular and pedestrian pressure.