BENGALURU: Hundreds of citizens gathered at Richmond Circle on Saturday afternoon demanding walk signals or Pelican signals. These signals allow pedestrians to cross the street safely by pressing a button to turn the lights red. This can be done at all signals across the city and on one way streets.
The peaceful demonstration, held on the lines of the #BekuBeda and #ChukuBukuBeku demonstrations in the past, saw participation from several resident welfare associations from Malleswaram, Richmond Town, Langford Town, Lavelle Road and other areas of the city. College students as well as senior citizen groups also showed up to demonstrate how tough it was to cross roads with Bengaluru’s notorious traffic conditions.
“While cars in Bengaluru get safe crossings with signals, pedestrians don’t seem to be entitled to safe road crossings. #WalkSignalBeku is a must at all junctions. It costs nothing compared to skywalks and provides pedestrians safety,” said Tara Krishnaswamy of Citizens for Bengaluru, which participated in the demonstration.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R Hitendra told Express that the demand could definitely be examined. “We are currently in the process of installing 60 of these Pelican signals and there is no dearth of funds to stop us from installing more. We will see how these signals perform and then decide,” he said. The new signals promise to be technologically advanced than the previous ones that have been installed across the city. While some are functional, most don’t work. “The technology is new but the principle remains the same,” Hitendra explained.
But, many pedestrians are skeptical if the signals will have the intended effect. “Even in the past, cars rarely stopped for these signals. Maybe with new enforcement methods like cameras, they will follow the rule,” said Valerie Joseph, a resident of Indiranagar.