COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore city police installed pelican signals that are operated by people who want to cross a road in 13 places including the arterial Avinashi Road, Tiruchi Road, Brooke Fields Mall, park gate signal, Gandhipuram, 100 feet Road and Ganapathi. But a majority of these signals are not utilised by people. As a result, police have planed to relocate them to suitable locations and raise awareness about them.
Recently, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) S Ashok Kumar inspected the pelican signal at Sungam junction, which remains unused. The Deputy Commissioner said the signal was in good condition and the junction witnesses huge crowd during peak hours. However, no one operated it to cross the road, as it is located next to the Sungam roundabout. He said that they are discussing with road safety officials to shift it to a suitable spot.
According to sources, many pelican signals are not effective. “In some areas, pedestrians struggle to use the signals because they are not placed correctly. Adding to that, lack of awareness contributes significantly to the problem, with many people crossing roads without noticing the presence and purpose of the signals,” said an officer from Coimbatore city traffic wing.
“Even many traffic police officers are unaware of how pelican signals function. Both people and police should be sensitised to these signals. The signals should be relocated to areas where pedestrians need them. Then police should conduct awareness campaigns about how to use the signals, especially during peak hours,” the officer added.
G Manuneethi, Divisional Engineer of the State Highways Department (Road Safety Wing) for the Coimbatore Division, said, “Just as the U-turn system, which was initially challenging but has now been accepted, we need to ensure pelican signals are placed in the right locations and people are educated about their use. Operating them with police personnel will change the approach among the public. We are working on it.”