Safe and hassle free commute for school students in Chennai!!
Posted on: 22/Nov/2022 9:27:18 AM
Soon, a consultant would be appointed by CUMTA or Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority for studying the hassle free and safe commute of the school students in Chennai. This was according to Mr. Jeyakumar, special officer of CUMTA.
It must be recalled that in the first meeting of CUMTA that took place on Thursday, the CM of Tamil Nadu Mr. M.K. Stalin had asked the officials to make the commuting safe for the school children.
In this regard, school safe zones would be taken up on the pilot basis. It must be noted that traffic congestion near the schools would be eased and there would be free vehicle zones etc. This was according to Mr.Jeyakumar.
As per an expert, earlier the school students used to walk or cycle to their schools but now safety has been a huge issue. Most schools are located on the main roads and the parents drop and pick up their kids from the schools and this leads to the traffic congestion.
The authority must come out with a policy of safe school transport and this was mentioned by Mr. Sumit Mishra, director, consulting, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India. It is known that he played a huge role in working out the organisational framework for CUMTA.
Mr. Santhosh Loganathan, deputy manager, institute for Transportation and Development Policy spoke about how ITDP has been working on enabling safe routes to the schools through behavioural intervention in a specific neighbourhood. He added that methods would be developed to reduce the traffic congestion near the schools by making the school kids walk, cycle or use public transport instead of getting dropped off by their parents. Point is that ITDP is mapping issues of school safe zones. For the school kids to cross the roads safely, traffic wardens would be posted near the schools
The Chennai Smart City has been preparing an action plan now regarding road safety and it being taken up by CUMTA for implementation. It was later revealed by an academician that currently there are no safe school zones in TN but such types of schemes would be highly beneficial when implemented. The academician then mentioned the need to create a 500m buffer zone before the schools and stressed the need for flashing light signals inside the school zone. It is learnt that the speed in the school zone would be 15kmph and it could be implemented during opening and closing of the schools.
