Ill-conceived traffic diversions, erratic barricading and gaping potholes on S.A. Road, where construction for the Kochi Metro is going on, pose serious threat to motorists at night.
The latest to fall victim to this deadly combo was a young couple, who sustained serious injuries after they ran into a rope tied across the road at Elamkulam.
Deepu Sathyaseelan, 29, and his wife Rohini Subramaniam, 26, were riding a motorbike towards Kadavanthra around 10.30 p.m. on Sunday when a rope tied across the road allegedly by workers at the metro site to divert traffic caught their necks, sending them tumbling to the ground.
Besides injuring their necks, the newly-wed couple got bruises all over. Mr. Sathyseelan broke his forearm and injured his shoulder. “The rope was at the neck-level, so we did not see it. Though we were at may be 35 to 40 kmph speed, it tossed us to the ground. There was no reflector tied to the rope and hardly any worker around to guide the traffic. We were returning to Vaduthala, where we stay, after being treated to dinner by my uncle,” Rohini told The Hindu . They are now recovering at a private hospital near Kacheripady. They rued that though they contacted the traffic police at Edappally, the police neither contacted them nor registered a case into the accident.
When contacted by The Hindu , the Edappally police sought to downplay the issue, maintaining that motorists generally did not pay much attention to traffic directions along this stretch. Whether there should be an FIR into this would be a decision to be taken by the senior officials, they said.
The traffic Circle Inspector in-charge of the station did not attend calls nor responded to a message on this sent by the daily.
P.C. Thomas, vice-president, Soma Enterprises, which is contracted to construct this stretch of the metro, said that such an incident had not come to his notice.
“But it’s a fact that we are forced to remove barricades wherever work has been partially done. Ironically, this is to enable unhindered flow of traffic. But we do post safety staff to keep a watch over the site and incidents do get reported. I need to find out the veracity of the present incident,” he told The Hindu .
Mr. Thomas also lamented that while speed limit signboards were on display along the stretch, most vehicles, specially buses, ply along the road at breakneck speeds giving a scare to pedestrians and workers.
