Traffic police personnel at Behala Chowrasta and outside Barisha Uchcha Balika Vidyamandir told guardians on Monday morning to follow traffic rules even if there are no cops around.
Officers from the Diamond Harbour traffic guard, along with a team of 14 home guards from adjoining traffic guards, were deployed on multiple shifts to regulate traffic at Behala Chowrasta and on the stretch of Diamond Harbour Road in front of the school, where studied eight-year-old Souraneel Sarkar who was mowed down by a lorry at the Chowrasta on Friday morning.
Officers on Monday tried to make the guardians understand that it would not be possible to deploy such a large team of cops and home guards at the spot every day and that they should be cautious and always follow traffic rules to avert accidents.
Two senior officers of the traffic department of Calcutta police held an informal meeting with guardians of students of Barisha Uchcha Balika Vidyamandir outside the school to sensitize them about the basic road rules.
The guardians were told that unlike Monday, there would not always be a large deployment of police personnel and home guards to guide them on where to cross the road and where to wait.
“We held this informal meeting around 7am with a considerable number of guardians, who had come to drop their wards to school. The idea was to make them aware how to safely cross roads,” said one of the two officers.
The guardians were told to cross the road only through zebra crossings, to avoid walking into the thoroughfare when the signal is green for vehicles, to remain within the bicycle bay when cycling and to wait for the drop gates to open before crossing the road.
The accident on Friday morning, which triggered a mob violence on the roads and at the Diamond Harbour traffic guard, has prompted the cops to be more cautious at Behala Chowrasta, one of the busiest intersections in the city.
“We are making a few necessary changes and will tighten the prosecution level on this stretch. But we are also trying to make people understand that the police will not be able to function effectively without the cooperation of pedestrians and residents of the area,” said an officer of the southwest division of Calcutta police.
Souraneel and his father were walking across Diamond Harbour Road, on their way to Barisha Uchcha Balika Vidyamandir, after getting off an autorickshaw when they were hit by a lorry. Souraneel died on the spot, while his father was seriously injured.
The police said the father and the son were not crossing the road through a zebra crossing.
Senior police officers said this is not the first time that traffic police have taken an initiative to ensure safety of pedestrians on an arterial
road by using road furniture such as drop gates and guard rails.
However, on stretches such as the Chingrighata crossing, where a footbridge has been set up, or at the Ruby or Exide crossing, where drop gates have been installed to regulate pedestrian movement, haphazard movement of pedestrians have failed the police’s efforts, a senior officer at Lalbazar said.