Jharkhand police’s website says, “Children are more susceptible to the dangers of road. It is not solely the drivers of the vehicles who cause accidents but carelessness of children and their lack of awareness are also causes of accidents on the roads. Teach your child to walk on footpath, encourage him/her to use subways, zebra crossing etc. If you will do the right thing on the road, your child will follow you and will remain safe in the traffic”.
Police’s preaching appears to be true in the backdrop of the death of a 9-year-old school child on January 21 at Singh More in Hatia, however, the police and administration miserably fail when it comes to practicing what has been preached by them to protect weak and disempowered.Monu Hari, the deceased child, may be among the unlucky victims of rash driving but thousands of Monus’ everyday face the threat of getting mauled by over-speeding vehicles in the absence of proper mechanism to ensure safety and security near schools across the capital.
Most of the schools and authorities of district administration fail to realise the importance of controlling on-road behaviour of vehicle owners by either going a step ahead to control traffic when mad rush of going back to home leaves children’s lives at the sole discretion people who break traffic rules or putting a sign board to awaken the senses of those who go full throttle to make them understand the importance of controlling their instincts which can a save a life.
Most of the private schools and almost all Government schools have not put up a sign board near the school to caution drivers about the existence of institution and also do not station a guard solely to help schoolchildren cross road safely. Worse, speed breakers near schools are also missing which explains why over-speeding cannot be prevented near educational institutions. Be it the two schools at Birsa Path on Harmu Road or a famous school at Kanke Road, when the bell rings children are left on their own.
“Putting up a signboard and speed brakers are the things which schools and administrations should look at but unfortunately none of them have realised the importance these things. Absence of these poses threat to the lives of children and we have raised these issues earlier as well but to no avail,” said Secretary Jharkhand Parent’s Association, Ajay Rai.
If absent traffic sense was not enough to underscore why schoolchildren face the threat more than anyone else lack of traffic constables near schools during peak hours explains how unregulated traffic could be potentially devastating for children who are less aware about traffic rules. Although, police acknowledges that no deputation is made near schools they put the onus of extending help to children on school administration.
“They should ask their guard to control traffic near schools and must incorporate traffic as a course in their curriculum to inculcate traffic sense among children. We deploy traffic constable at all busy squares,” said Officer-in-Charge, Traffic, Pramod Ranjan.
Notably, deployment of traffic constables has been divided into two segments—at busy squares and other squares. Whereas deployment at busy squares is made in two shifts—7am to 2pm and 2pm to 9:30pm—at less busy squares traffic constables are stationed from 8:30am to 9:30pm.
Enforcing speed restrictions and demarcating low speed zones is yet to be implemented in Ranchi and zones around educational institutions are no exception to the problem. Despite knowing that speed kills neither office of District Transport Officer nor the traffic police have ever attempted to put speed limit of certain stretches. Meanwhile, traffic police has directed all schools to prepare a comprehensive database of bus drivers so that they can be arrested for rash driving and accidents.