Reopening of schools fuels traffic jams across Bahrain

TDT | Manama                                                                         

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

Commuters across Bahrain are having difficulty across Bahrain due to heavy traffic near schools and highways, a day after school resumed.

Sunday being the first day of school turned out to be momentous for both students and their parents. However, the traffic congestion played a spoilsport throughout the day.

Speaking to The Daily Tribune, Badusha P K, an expat and local driver, said: “The traffic peaked during the mornings and evenings when parents as well as hired drivers rushed to drop and pick children on the premises of schools.

“They create traffic jams near schools that would soon trickle down into highways and other road networks, making it tough for commuters. Yesterday I had to take detours and detours to escape the traffic jams.

“Traffic tailbacks were mainly experienced on Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Highway, Al Estiqlal Highway, Shaikh Salman Highway and Budaiya Highway. Owing to road construction activities, traffic jams are now common in Juffair too,” he added.

Echoing a similar view, a resident of JidAli said, “The area is already crowded, and the reopening of schools and play schools in this sector is adding to chaos. People who have to leave for work must now plan ahead of time to avoid getting stuck in traffic.”

Although marking the start of the new school year, the departments and directors of the Ministry of Interior took all necessary security and organisational measures and arrangements to ensure the safety of students and uninterrupted flow of traffic, bottlenecks often appear across roads, especially during the school going and leaving hours.

The General Traffic Department has taken serious steps to ensure traffic flow by distributing traffic orders and patrols, as well as monitoring movement and following up on student safe crossings. Previously, the Ministry of Education hosted a workshop to prepare for the start of the new school year and to provide information on various aspects of traffic regulations near schools.

“This course is part of our careful planning to ensure the safety of kids when they return to school. We were keen to acquaint the security guards with a variety of potential scenarios and how to handle them during the training in order to prepare them to act quickly when anything seemed out of the norm,” Professor Muhammad Al Abbasi, Head of the School Safety and Security Department at the Ministry of Education, pointed out.