Alarmed at the spate of pedestrian deaths in road mishaps in the past few months, the traffic wing of Calcutta Police is launching yet another anti-jaywalking drive. The intention is to make the public aware of the benefits of adhering to traffic rules.

This is the fifth drive in the past two years in a city where pavements do not exist at all, or are occupied by hawkers.

“The drive is aimed at making the people aware of traffic safety norms for their own benefit, in view of the fatalities on the roads,” said joint commissioner (traffic) Banibrata Basu.

“The drive will be concentrated on five points: the Hudco crossing (Eastern Metropolitan Bypass-CIT Road), the Rashbehari Avenue-Cornfield Road intersection, the Mahatma Gandhi Road-Central Avenue intersection, the Sealdah intersection (near Prachi cinema) and the Park Street-AJC Bose Road intersection,” said Prabahan Roy, officer-in-charge of Jorabagan traffic guard.

While rash driving remains the principal cause of road deaths, jaywalking is next on the list of reasons for the rising toll. Road deaths this year totalled 212 till June.

Over the past two years, the city traffic police have launched four anti-jaywalking drives, a trend started by M.K. Singh when he occupied the office of deputy commissioner of police (traffic). The first three initiatives were taken by Singh himself, but were largely experimental in nature and failed to elicit much response from the public.

The last move was conducted in December under the supervision of then deputy commissioner (traffic) Peeyush Pandey.

Traffic officers claim that the last effort was successful, with Pandey himself manning the Park Street-Jawaharlal Nehru Road intersection.

But statistics obtained from the Lalbazar police headquarters prove otherwise. In January 2004 itself, days after Pandey’s anti-jaywalking drive, the toll rose to 40, the second highest this year after May, which witnessed 43 road deaths.

Pedestrians in the city have always complained about there not being enough zebra crossings. With a total road length of 1,404 km covering 104.5 sq km, and almost 1.2 million vehicles, accidents are inevitable.

“Given Calcutta’s limited roadspace, the construction of subways, like in the other metropolitan cities, may be a good idea. But the cooperation of the civic authorities would be essential to get the formidable infrastructure in place,” Basu said.

Pedestrians, who find the climb cumbersome, do not use the overhead footbridges at Ultadanga and Sealdah, he added.