Exide crossing: Habitual jaywalkers came in the way of the success of four pairs of boom barriers that started functioning at the Exide crossing on Wednesday morning.

The 20-odd police officers and civic volunteers managed to discipline pedestrians only partially while others continued to duck under the boom gates and cross the road while the signal was still green.

Only a few were patient enough to wait till the arm of the boom barrier went up and made way for them to cross the road at the zebra crossing.

Senior officers at Lalbazar said they would take this as a model project and try to "fine-tune" it with feedback from the ground.

Metro visited the crossing - among the city's 75 most dangerous intersections - on Wednesday to take stock

Impossible wait

Most pedestrians were unwilling to "waste" time standing behind a boom barrier that stopped them from crossing the road when the signal was green for vehicles.

Many ducked under the gates and dodged their way past a maze of speeding vehicles to cross the road.

"They are simply not listening. All of them are behaving as if they have a train to catch. The situation was worse in the morning during office hours," said a traffic cop posted at the crossing.

Rogue buses

Despite a prominent signage that declared "buses will not stop here", most buses plying along AJC Bose Road continued to pick up and drop passengers right in front of a barrier along the footpath where Haldiram is located. People waited for buses on the road instead of the footpath.

Arm's length

The arms of the boom barriers are fitted with sensors that don't allow them to fall back till the space below is clear. Some pedestrians were seen standing right below the raised arm, disrupting operation. "People are not aware of how the gates function. We are trying to sensitise them," said an officer.

Easy & tough

The cops and volunteers repeatedly requested pedestrians to stand behind the boom gate. At times, they were forced to push people back.

Obedient citizens

A handful of pedestrians tried to follow the rules and waited for the signal to turn red and the arm to go up.