Hyderabad:Parade Ground, Yashoda Hospital in Malakpet, the Secunderabad bridge approaches, Cyber Towers in Madhapur.
The location changes, but pedestrians face much the same problem as motorists jump red lights, creep past stop lines, occupy crossings, take wrong-side shortcuts and keep moving through free-left turns, while pedestrians themselves often cross against their signal. Zebra crossings and pedestrian lights offer little protection when neither side treats them as rules. This issues comes back into forefront following the recent road accidents in the city.
Parade Ground shows the problem in a few metres of road. Pedestrian space outside the Metro Rail station is limited, vehicles spill into what little space is available, and the free-left turn keeps traffic moving across the path of people trying to cross. Lakshya Kumar, a student studying at a tuition centre close by who uses the crossing regularly, said the free left had led to several close calls because motorists often refused to stop. “This is quite a difficult area to cross and most often has been a close call. Wish things were different.”
A traffic policeman posted there said at least 150 challans are issued every day at the crossing, many against motorists who did not stop at red lights or crossed them. Several times it is also because of taking wrong routes right next to it; however accidents have remained rare, he said.
The numbers citywide are large. Hyderabad police recorded 1,52,502 signal-jumping violations in 2025, up from 1,14,346 the previous year. The same annual report recorded 837 pedestrian road accidents, in which 105 pedestrians died and 788 were injured.
Vinod Kanumala of the Indian Federation of Road Safety said the problem went beyond individual violations. “The government is only focused on the free movement of motorised vehicles, not pedestrians,” he said. Kanumala also faulted pedestrian behaviour and said motorists and walkers needed to respect each other’s right of way. He pointed to U-turn-based traffic movement and continuously flowing lanes as another problem because pedestrians no longer get a clean break in traffic to cross.
Further, Advocate Yennam Balachander Reddy, who had approached the NHRC over missing and poorly maintained zebra crossings in Hyderabad, said motorists often obeyed rules only when enforcement was visible. “They will stop only when there are police officers holding a camera,” he said.
The NHRC had directed Telangana authorities in March to improve and maintain zebra crossings at major city junctions within eight weeks after Reddy’s petition. Reddy said he had not received a subsequent compliance communication from the State.
Road behaviour remains part of the problem too. Kanumala said pedestrians frequently ignore their own signals, while motorists treat pedestrian space as part of the carriageway. That leaves the person on foot with the least protection when either side decides the signal can wait.
Balachander Reddy has now filed a fresh complaint before the NHRC over pedestrian and traffic safety on Tank Bund, which the Ccommission received on October 6 and registered. The complaint cited unsafe pedestrian crossings, inadequate lighting, poorly visible dividers, roadside parking and weak traffic control, and sought an inspection of the Tank Bund-Hussainsagar stretch. It also sought action against wrong-side driving and unsafe pedestrian and vehicular movement, along with time-bound reports from the state government, GHMC, HMDA, city police and other authorities.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
