NGOs against free left turn proposal

Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) working on transport issues in Pune have come together to criticise the City Improvement Committee's (CIC) decision to make the left turn free for motorists, which will allow them to do so without having to wait for signals.

They have written to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for reconsideration as this could create more threats for pedestrians who are vulnerable to accidents in such cases.
The decision was taken by the PMC's CIC recently on December 17 to make the left turn free as a part of the civic body's aim to keep a check on congestion at traffic junctions when traffic stops during a red signal. This was done after a proposal to this effect was put forth by a few corporators, urging the civic administration to allow free movement for vehicles taking a left turn.

A final approval, however, is still pending with the PMC and it is expected to be passed at the next general body meeting. Now, members of NMT (non-motorised transport), a committee comprising NGOs like STEP (Step Towards Empowering Pedestrians) and Parisar have pointed out that safety hasn't been taken in consideration while taking the decision and will pose threat to the pedestrians.
They have pointed out that if it is a free-left turn for a vehicle, the speed of the vehicle becomes much higher than what is normally seen when approaching a signal and pedestrians naturally go out of the driver's angle of vision, resulting in low visibility and possibility of severe crashes increases.

STEP coordinator Priya Pharande, speaking about the same, said, "On urban roads, one cannot ignore the number of pedestrians present at any particular point. Already pedestrian safety is an ignored issue for the administration. This decision makes them even more vulnerable than before. It will not allow pedestrians to cross junctions safely due to continuous flow of vehicles, thus increasing the risk of a crash. We do not want the civic body's general body to approve this decision."

Aditya Chawande, who works as an urban designer at Parisar, told Mirror, "Existing junction geometries in Pune are not compatible for free-left vehicle movement. To be able to allow such a move, a different kind of junction geometry will be required to be put in place."

Prasanna Jagtap, head of CIC of the civic body, said, "Initial approval has been granted by our end. The grievances have to be taken to PMC for further procedure."

The idea saw several parties coming together to push for it with corporator Bhaiyasaheb Jadhav of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena corporator Avinash Salve tabling the proposal in the CIC, citing examples of cities like Delhi, Chandigarh and Bengaluru which have already allowed a left freeway to ease congestion on the road. Pune should follow the same plan as well to decongest the roads which have been struggling to deal with the exponential rise in traffic, they said.









































































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