Schools' claims on easing traffic ring hollow

GURGAON: The claims of schools in the city that they have formed traffic committees to manage the flow of vehicles in their neighbourhoods are not matched by reality. Residents are yet to witness any relief from traffic chaos in morning and afternoon.
They complain that the school buses and cars not only block the roads, but they also make the residential areas accident-prone.Residents allege that rash driving by school bus drivers has resulted in a number of accidents in the city. Moreover, they say frequent arguments between drivers and residents have become the order of the day.
Anoop Varma, a resident of Sushant Lok - B Block, said, "Recently, a school bus of a prominent school hit a car carrying three school children in my locality.My car parked outside my house was also recently hit by a school bus. We have pointed this out to the school authorities for a long time now, but no solution has been worked out yet."
Vivek Saha, a Sector 45 resident, said, "We witness a huge jam in front of the school every day. It takes us around 25 minutes to reach the main road."
He added that a huge pile-up of cars and other vehicles clog the road with all of them trying to move at the same time. "A few guards are deployed outside the school, but they fail to make any difference," Saha added.
DPS principal Aditi Misra agreed that the traffic mess creates problems for the commuters, but said it can't be done away with. She said, "The road is not wide enough to cater to the huge number of vehicles using the stretch. Moreover, those who miss their bus come to school by cars . This adds to the rush."
When contacted on the issue, DCP (traffic) Bharti Arora said, "It is the responsibility of the schools to ensure that traffic is properly managed in and around their institutions. Schools need to deploy a team of students, teachers and parents to manage the traffic. For this purpose, they have been asked to form traffic committees. We will begin inspections to check their functioning from Monday."