Rightful action by Authorities; Better Late than Never

On 15th of January, while the nation celebrated Road Safety Week, we lost our dearest mother in a hit and run accident. She was hit by a speeding water tanker while crossing the road on a zebra crossing. On Saturday the 4th of Feb, we had blamed MMRDA for their inaction towards pedestrian safety. Our complaint was that the barricades erected for Metro Rail work enclosed the dividers, leaving no space for pedestrians while crossing the road at the busy and residential Inorbit Mall junction, Malad. It also obstructed the traffic signal from the pedestrian’s view besides creating blind spots for drivers. No basic safety rules were followed as pedestrians tried to get from one end of the road to the other. Last evening, we were called to the site by Inspector Jadhav, traffic-in-charge for Goregaon-Malad. He introduced us to Mr. Tiwari, officer-in-charge of safety at DMRC. To our satisfaction, Mr. Tiwari explained that they were pushing back the barricades. This small change was going to clear the obstruction to traffic signal, make space for pedestrian crossing and clear the blind spot making drivers and pedestrians aware of the cars coming from other side. Mr. Tiwari has also promised us that they are installing focus lights at the junction and assured us of a traffic guard at peak hours. Furthermore, these norms will be implemented all through Goregaon -Malad link road starting from Bangur Nagar to Mith Chowki. We are satisfied that our requests have been adhered to but these basic safety regulations should have been in place at the beginning of the project. All the same, better late than never. We thank Inspector Jadhav for all the positive support he is giving us by taking actions on pedestrian safety. While we are waiting for the higher authorities for concrete permanent solutions towards pedestrian safety, the lower authorities have shown great responsibility in making the roads safe. We now look forward to a similar support from BMC authorities.