Without pavements, zebra crossings, students at risk off campus

CHENNAI: Crossing the road opposite the YMCA bus stop on Anna Salai is a nightmare for Government Arts College students in Nandanam. The absence of traffic police, a signal or a zebra crossing puts pedestrians at risk on this stretch of Anna Salai.
"With vehicles constantly using the arterial road, we find it difficult to cross," said Umar Farook, a third year BCom student of Government Arts College.Apart from the college, YMCA school and government offices are located on the either side of the road.
Across the city, pedestrian facilities near educational institutions are practically non-existent. Thursday's accident in which three students of Chellammal Women's College were killed by a speeding water tanker has thrown into focus the lack of pavements, zebra crossings and other measures to slow traffic around educational institutions.
On Friday, the state highways department started widening the footpath near SPIC building in Guindy, the site of the Thursday's accident. Highways officials said they were ordered by the government to take corrective action. "The footpath near SPIC is a bit narrow. The accident would not have happened had the girls been using the footpath. We have decided to widen it by a few metres," said an official.
Following the charge by Chellammal college faculty that MTC buses did not stop in front of the college, traffic authorities erected barriers and created a makeshift bus bay on Friday. All MTC buses were asked to enter through the bus bay and stop near the college.
While an accident has made authorities take notice in Guindy, in the rest of the city, students are still at risk. Outside Women's Christian College on Nungambakkam's College Road, share autos parked on one side of the road and autorickshaws on the other leave little space for movement. With the footpath encroached upon by illegal parking and eateries, thousands of students are forced to walk on the carriageway. As there is no traffic policeman in sight, students and motorists flout every rule in the book. Students drive on the wrong side of the road, while autorickshaws consider it their right to hold up traffic to call out to passengers. There is no zebra crossing outside the college where at least a few dozen students cross the road every minute.
Less than a kilometre away on Nungambakkam High Road, students from M O P Vaishnav College scramble to cross the busy road that connects Anna flyover and Nungambakkam. Motorists complain that traffic police take bribes and allow share autos to crowd the stretch. A senior traffic official said action will be taken to clear share autos from the area.
"The city traffic officials are not proactive. The small steps that are taken are only knee-jerk reactions. Absence of enforcement and lack of awareness about road safety is the prime reason for the mess outside educational institutions," said former professor of urban engineering at Anna University K P Subramanian.