CHENNAI: Absence of traffic signals on the vital Poonamallee-Pattabiram Road that slices through the Chennai-Bangalore National Highway is taking a heavy toll on the lives of the locals. Eight people, including two school students hailing from the rural hamlets situated in and around Poonamallee, have fallen prey to the speeding vehicles this year, besides several others suffering injuries in the frequent road accidents.“The demise of the 15-yearold boy is the latest in a series deaths caused due to road accidents on the national highway,” Vincent from Parivakkam said. “It is just a tip of the iceberg as thousands of people face similar risk while crossing the road every day in the accident prone junction,” he added.Thousands of people are residing in close to 15 villages situated in the vicinity of the 10km long Poonamallee- Pattabiram Road.Most of the villagers are employed in the companies and factories situated around Poonamallee and they must cross the highway to go to work. Besides, the junction is the lifeline for the locals since public facilities like government hospital, Panchayat office, Tashildar office and educational institutions are located across the highway.Ethiraj, a village elder, observed that a day never ends without an accident being reported at this junction.He said, “Accidents have become the order of the day of late. After the six lane national highway was constructed, it has made our lives miserable.” A majority of the accident victims are those riding on two-wheelers or bicycles.The bike riders often miss the lane on which the motor vehicles move on the highway, even as the speeding vehicles fail to notice the junction. The locals also charged that the traffic police don’t man the junction, which could otherwise avert such accidents and save precious lives.“On top of it, the traffic police have installed signals only about three months back, but the signals are already out of order,” another local claimed.When contacted, Karthikeyan, DCP (Traffic), Chennai Suburban Police, pointed out that the process of installing the traffic signal has not been completed. “In fact, we decided to install the signals after a study had identified the junction as an accident prone zone. The traffic signals would start functioning in 15 days,” he asserted.The official also denied the allegations pertaining to non-availability of traffic cops at the junction.
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