COIMBATORE: With the introduction of U-turns to replace traffic signals across the city, police have put the safety of pedestrians at risk at many junctions. Pedestrians have accused the police of neglecting pedestrian safety, which has led to an increase in accidents. Police records show that there were 124 pedestrian fatalities in road accidents in the city over the last 15 months.
KM Karunakaran, a retired bank employee from Ramanathapuram who frequently uses the Tiruchy Road, recently met with a minor accident while crossing a junction after being hit by a speeding bike. He said that the junction was recently made signal-free, but without safe permanent passage for pedestrians to cross.
“It is a major junction with high vehicle and pedestrian traffic. While police have installed barricades to facilitate pedestrian crossing, few obey it. When there were traffic signals, it allowed us to cross the road safely, but this has been neglected in the U-turn arrangement. As a senior citizen, I feel scared to cross a major junction without signals. Officials need to find a suitable solution for this,” he said. He added that many minor accidents go unreported especially at junctions in the city where conventional signals have been replaced with U-turns and roundabouts.
Sources said that while replacing signals with roundabouts and U-turns may stand to benefit vehicular traffic, pedestrians struggle to cross roads amidst freely flowing traffic. To address this, the city police installed pelican crossings at various points. However, barring a few, many signals are not in use due to lack of public awareness regarding their function. Police have also stopped investing in pelican signals, instead they deploy police officers as a temporary solution, they added.
As per data from police, 1,479 road accidents were reported since January 2024, including 363 fatal and 1,116 non-fatal cases.
This year alone has seen 74 fatal accidents in the city; of this there were 124 pedestrian fatalities in the last 15 months, including 22 this year. Additionally, 340 pedestrians have suffered non-fatal injuries. Officials mentioned that the accident rate from January to March 2025 has slightly increased compared to last year and efforts are underway to prevent further accidents.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) S Ashok Kumar said that they have suggested the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) to construct of foot overbridges (FOBs) at eight locations - Ukkadam, Gandhipuram, SITRA, Lakshmi Mills, Hope College, CMCH, Sungam, and Singanallur - where a significant number of pedestrians frequently cross roads.
“FOBs are the safest way for pedestrians to cross roads. Unfortunately, pelican signals have failed to attract public attention and very few use them. While we focus on ensuring hassle-free traffic flow, pedestrian safety must also be a high priority. We are in discussion with experts to implement a permanent solution for pedestrian crossings at all necessary locations. Meanwhile we have to manage the situation with temporary measures using police personnel,” Ashok Kumar said.