CHENNAI: The Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) is planning to appoint a consultant to study hassle-free and safe commuting for students, said CUMTA special officer I Jayakumar. During the first meeting of CUMTA on Thursday, Chief Minister MK Stalin urged officials to make commuting safe for students.
School safe zones will be taken up on a pilot basis. The focus will be to ease congestion near schools and have vehicle-free zones or streamline traffic, said Jayakumar. “We are inviting experts to share their views,” he said.
Earlier, children used to walk or cycle to school, but now safety is a big issue. Schools are situated on busy roads, and parents prefer to drop off and pick up children, resulting in traffic congestion, said an expert.
Sumit Mishra, director, Consulting, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, who has been instrumental in working out the organisational framework for CUMTA, said the authority should come out with a policy on safe school transport.
Institute for Transportation and Development Policy deputy manager Santhosh Loganaathan said ITDP, which has partnered with CMDA, is working on enabling safe routes to school through behavioural intervention in a particular neighbourhood. “We will also work with schools and parents to see how children could walk, cycle, or take public transport instead of getting dropped off so congestion around schools is reduced, said Loganaathan. ITDP is mapping issues of the school safe zones. Traffic wardens may be posted near schools to ensure children can cross roads safely.
Meanwhile, a road safety action plan is being prepared by Chennai Smart City and is being taken up for implementation by CUMTA. “We don’t have a safe school zone in the state. If such schemes are implemented, it will have a big impact,” said an academician.
He also stressed the need to create a 500 m buffer zone before schools and highlighted the need for flashing light signals within the school zone stressing the need to have a 15 kmph speed limit. This could be implemented during the opening and closing of schools. Cameras should be installed to penalise those exceeding the speed limit, he said.