Hyderabad: To enhance pedestrian safety in the city, 31 pelican signals with a push button facility have been installed by traffic police under the ‘Safe City Project’.
These signals allow pedestrians to cross the road safely with the assistance of traffic volunteers and local traffic cops who halt vehicular traffic for a designated time. Additionally, pedestrian islands have been marked with sign boards, and citizens have been encouraged to use foot-over-bridges at 56 metro stations.
Operating a manual system that allows a window of 15-20 seconds for pedestrians to cross the road safely, the signals were installed at strategic locations such as near hospitals, colleges, schools, and commercial public places where high pedestrian footfall was observed.
Additional commissioner (traffic) G Sudheer Babu said, “The vehicular traffic will come to a halt on both sides until pedestrians cross the road. Two volunteers (monitored by concerned traffic SHOs) will be deployed at each pelican signal to assist the pedestrians.”
“One traffic cop will be posted on each signal and the volunteers can use a stop the vehicles,” said Sudheer.
Though 43 pelican signals in the city were proposed, 31 have been installed on busy areas so far.
The traffic cops have identified pedestrian islands at busy junctions and intersections and erected 71 pedestrian island sign boards.
Additionally, the traffic officers will identify the list of places where markings are required for the safety of pedestrians and will address the issue with GHMC and pursue them until markings are laid.
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