Kolkata: Impromptu parking zones in front of schools leave drivers at their wits’ end and throw traffic out of gear twice every day.

For those who have a school in their neighbourhood, life turns into a nightmare twice every day.

Every morning and afternoon — when the children troop in and out — the areas turns into hell and traffic goes haywire. Irrespective of the width of the road in front of the school, three-lane or four-lane parking zones spring up. Kolkata Police’s traffic department ranks school parking as the city’s greatest traffic woe.

Most schools are located on major thoroughfares and arterial roads and these part-time illegal car parks make commuting a hellish experience for those living in these areas. Chaos prevails every day on Rawdon Street, Loudon Street and AJC Bose Road, with cars making a beeline to drop children at the two La Martiniere schools. “The snarl apart, the noise, too, is unbearable. A hospital is located nearby. Yet, guardians of children just honk their way into the school. It is a nightmare passing along any of these streets before or after school,” said Asok Trivedi, a local resident.

The situation is more acute these days as school buses have largely been replaced by car pools, which pick up children from their doorsteps and drop them back home. The problem has been compounded as the number of cars have been increasing as well. This compounds the problem and has a direct bearing on the problem of traffic snarls, said chief traffic and transportation engineer B K Sadhu.

DC (traffic) Jawed Shamim said, “This is the single largest problem we are facing right now. It can be solved to a large extent if schools cooperate with us. In spite of having enough space inside, schools do not allow cars to park there for more than 10 to 15 minutes.” If only schools whose timings clash with office hours alter their routine, half the problem would be solved, felt another traffic police officer.

St Thomas School has a huge open space inside its compound. Earlier, cars and buses were allowed to park inside. But authorities aped other schools and prohibited parking inside. Now, they do not even allow teachers to park their cars inside. So all vehicles for students and teachers are parked outside, blocking the tram tracks and carriageway. Traffic police officers say it is a harrowing task for them to maintain traffic flow every day.

Police are compelled to be lenient as towing away vehicles for violating traffic laws may complicate matters. There might be a noisy protest. Moreover, children would be stranded, which is undesirable. So, we allow multiple lane parking in front of schools for some time.

Source: TOI(KOlkata epaper)

Entry Filed under: Kolkata Traffic News