Staff reporter
The Parliamentary Road Safety Committee is working on preparing user-friendly plans for places across the country with a view to reducing accidents. In Nagpur, he identified Shatabdi Square as a pilot project and prepared a plan. It has been submitted to the Police (Traffic) Department for approval. Committee members visited Shatabdi Square, took measurements and prepared a plan. They have introduced some changes which they believe if implemented will reduce accidents in this plaza. The committee also believes that traffic will be facilitated in the square.
Shatabdi Square is one of many poorly managed and poorly designed squares in Nagpur. As people get used to these squares, they also get used to this one. Traffic from five directions reaches this square. These five directions include Dighori, Narendra Nagar, Rameshwari, Beltarodi and Omkar Nagar. A huge gap, almost 30 feet, between two directions is in the middle of the square, because of which fewer vehicles can cross the other end during the green signal time. The turning radius is also above average. The long distance between two ends affects the movement of pedestrians because they are stuck in two signals. This means that they only cross half of the road when the other part of the road receives a green signal and the vehicles start moving, leading to accident-like situations. Seniors and divyangs face more problems.
Dr. Chandrashekhar Mohite, a member of the Parliamentary Road Safety Committee, contacted Anurag Kulshreshtha, Chairman of the Committee, with a request for a guide to the squares of Nagpur. “Kulshreshtha designed Hero Honda plaza in Delhi and fatal accidents at this plaza dropped to zero as of 2019. Our mission is to reduce accidents to zero. Losing a member of any family in an accident also hurts the economy,” Kulshreshtha pointed out.
All the committee members went to the place, studied every aspect, took measurements and prepared a plan.
“The width of the divider is 11.8 feet which occupied a huge space of the road. In our plan, the width of the divider is reduced to 1.5 meters, which creates additional space for vehicles. The length of the divider is increased because of which the distance between the two ends of the roads will be reduced.This will cause more vehicles to move forward when the traffic light is green, so pedestrians too,” Kulshreshtha explained.
The Committee suggested that the height of the islands be reduced to 4 inches. The purpose of lowering the height of the island is to allow divyangs and the elderly to travel comfortably. In this design, the lanes have been properly marked and people are expected to follow these lanes when traveling. If people follow him, this place won’t need police to stand. At present it is difficult to identify the route to Beltarodi and to Omkar Nagar. In the proposed plan, everything can be easily identified. Currently there is no zebra crossing on the road, but Kulshreshtha suggested it. There will be enough space for vehicles to move comfortably to their left where they will not need to wait for the signal. Ashish Kurve, assistant engineer of PWD (World Bank) suggested having thermoplastic rumbler strips near the place to slow the movement of the vehicle.
Kulshreshtha’s plan was officially approved by the committee at a meeting held at the RTO office in Rural. Dr. Chandrashekhar Mohite, Prakash Wanjari, an activist who knows the rules and regulations of the RTO, Rajesh Sarak, Deputy RTO, Phase SP, Deputy RTO, Ashfaq Ahmed, Deputy RTO; Rahul Deshpande, Deputy Traffic Engineer NMC, Ashish Kurve, PWD (World Bank), Deputy Engineer; Rajesh Gange, NHAI, Mangesh Deshmukh from Traffic Police, Rajesh Mankar, Electricity Department from NMC, Satish Lohkare, Junior Engineer from PWD attended the meeting.
Awareness camps for transporters should be organised. Awareness of drivers is necessary. According to Prakash Wanjari, large carrier camps should be held where they should be given advice on the rules. There are a good number of transport companies operating in Nagpur. If these many truck drivers are trained, it will help reduce the number of accidents.
