Delhi School Safety Pilot: CRRI Redesigns Hazardous Zones to Protect Children
In the bustling capital city of New Delhi, a concerning daily ritual unfolds each morning and afternoon outside numerous schools. Children disembark from buses or are dropped off by parents, navigating through narrow lanes while balancing heavy school bags and adjusting uniforms. Simultaneously, vehicles including cars and two-wheelers squeeze past them, creating a chaotic and perilous environment. This scene repeats during afternoon dispersal, making the short walk from vehicle to classroom potentially the most dangerous part of the day for thousands of students.
Identifying Risks Through Ground-Level Surveys
The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) has initiated a pilot project aimed at transforming this hazardous scenario. Rather than commencing with conventional design drawings, CRRI's approach involved direct street-level observation. The institute recently conducted comprehensive field surveys around a school in Sukhdev Vihar, meticulously analyzing the movement patterns of children, parents, teachers, and vehicles during peak hours.
Engaging in discussions with school authorities, parents, and students enabled CRRI to pinpoint specific risky behaviors and factors contributing to daily bottlenecks. The team mapped vehicle volumes, pedestrian flows, and critical conflict points, while perception surveys captured the feelings of insecurity experienced by children and parents navigating the school vicinity.
A Catalogue of Familiar Hazards
The findings revealed a series of hazards that are unfortunately common outside many Delhi schools. At the Sukhdev Vihar school site, vehicles were observed speeding past the gate without any road markings or warning signs to prompt减速. The carriageway width was compromised by a metro station exit and an auto-rickshaw stand, forcing pedestrians, predominantly children, into the direct path of traffic.
Additional issues included the absence of a central median, encouraging unsafe road crossings, and footpaths that were either missing or obstructed by parking sheds, a temple, and utility structures. Parking chaos involving school staff, parents, autos, and vans left minimal space for children to walk safely. Notably, there were no designated pick-up or drop-off zones, marked pedestrian crossings, or safe walking routes connecting the school to the surrounding neighborhood.
Engineering and Behavioral Solutions
Based on these insights, CRRI developed a redesign plan integrating engineering fixes with behavioral modifications. Proposed interventions encompass:
- Clear signage and road markings to alert drivers
- Raised pedestrian crossings and speed tables to calm traffic
- Transverse bar markings in approach zones indicating school areas
- Time-specific speed limits during school arrival and dispersal hours
- Structured pick-up and drop-off systems
- Parking regulations and transport policies to minimize random stopping and last-minute maneuvers
Vel Murugan, a scientist at CRRI, emphasized, "What we are trying to demonstrate through this pilot is that children's safety cannot depend only on enforcement during peak hours. Most streets around Delhi schools were never designed to handle the intense, short-duration surge of pedestrians, vehicles, and informal parking twice daily."
Expanding the Initiative
Murugan further explained that by studying ground-level movement and redesigning streets accordingly, school-safe zones can significantly reduce conflict points. "This pilot shows that even in congested urban settings, it is possible to create safer and more predictable environments for children through design rather than temporary measures. The project may be expanded further and can be adopted by the government too," he added.
The Public Works Department has been involved and will participate in the inauguration of the safety zone outside the Sukhdev Vihar school on February 4. Additionally, the department is working on similar interventions, including designing a dedicated safe zone outside Govt Boys Senior Secondary School No 2 in Najafgarh. Officials have invited interested parties to prepare formal sketches for implementing street redesigns under its Safe School Project.
In a city where weekday mornings are synonymous with chaos, these initiatives present a straightforward yet powerful concept: safety for schoolchildren should not rely solely on whistles and barricades but on thoughtfully designed streets that protect their most vulnerable users.
