Telangana: Police offers traffic safety classes, gets shooed away

Hyderabad: The traffic police conducts an annual meeting with schools and students to increase awareness about traffic rules and road safety. However, they often receive only a lukewarm response.

The traffic police aims to conduct 45-minute sessions for 300 schools every year.
A senior traffic inspector said, “Although it is such a short class, it is not received well by school authorities. They often shoo us away and tell us that the students do not have time. The most common excuse that we receive is that students have IIT coaching classes after school hours.”

The traffic police launched its traffic volunteer programme in 2014, for which it trained students. Child rights activists opposed the idea of students standing on the road, saying that it was extremely unsafe. The programme was discontinued after one year.

Mr Santosh Kiran, a traffic police inspector from Panjagutta, said, “I believe that if the student volunteers are trained properly, it will be a good step. The area near St Francis College and Chinmaya Vidyalaya is often packed in the morning. Parents’ worries stem from the fact that even some of our traffic personnel have been injured in the traffic.”

According to the traffic police, several accidents involving pedestrians take place in school zones during peak traffic, between 8 am and 9 am. The traffic police had notified all schools and district educational officers that cars were not to be allowed inside school premises to reduce congestion. Schools were also asked to employ private security guards to regulate traffic. Not all schools have implemented these measures. 

Joint commissioner of police, traffic, V. Ravinder said, “We have given schools time to work on the implementation of these steps. If they fail to do so, we will issue show-cause notices. It is a hassle to deal with school zones in particular. There are a few schools in the Abids area which cause traffic congestion as well.”

He said that every school should encourage its students to undergo training by the traffic personnel and help in the reduction of traffic congestion.