Paint all zebra crossings: Bombay high court

In a PIL, seeking more traffic safety in Mumbai, the Bombay high court on Thursday directed the BMC to complete painting all zebra crossings in the city by January 31.

In an order to expedite the cases of traffic offences, the court also asked magistrates to dedicate a day solely for the hearing of traffic offences. “We will ensure that our magistrates earmark a day every fortnight for these (traffic) offences,” chief justice Mohit Shah said.

The court also asked the state government to set up mobile courts for hearing of traffic offences.

Intervener in the case, Armin Wandrewala told the court that owing to some malfunctioning traffic signals, both pedestrians and motorists have the green signal at the same time. “This is difficult for children and the elderly, who cross roads,” Wandrewala said.

She added that according to the state government’s affidavit filed earlier, 319 of the 525 pedestrian crossings in Mumbai were not painted. The BMC’s counsel told the court that phase-wise painting of zebra crossings had been undertaken  but owing to various construction sites for Metro, flyovers and skywalks, some of the paint on the crossings had been erased.