ast week, when a speeding car tried to overtake a bigger vehicle on New Natham Road, it rammed the newly-laid median and it went up in fire. While the passengers scurried to safety, even quick attempts by Fire and Rescue Services personnel to put out the flames went in vain as the car was gutted.
Accidents have become frequent near Dean’s Quarters ever since the Department of Highways started construction of the road divider. “From three accidents a month reported earlier on this stretch before the road divider came, at least one accident is reported every week now,” said I. Sultan, a fruit vendor.
However, he attributed it to digging up of the road near the median at least once in a month to plug leakage in underground water pipeline. “With the road remaining uneven at this spot, vehicles tend to take the extreme right side of the road. And when another vehicle attempts to overtake them, they end up hitting the median, as the drivers or riders are not aware of the presence of the structure,” he said.
Another vendor in the vicinity said that passengers, including a baby, had a miraculous escape when an SUV rammed the median earlier. In another case, a truck hit it even as the curved concrete tip was being constructed.
Mr. Sultan wanted the authorities to put up a speed breaker a few feet ahead of the median so that vehicles would slow down before reaching the median.
However, a Fire and Rescue Services personnel said that frequent accidents could be averted if the median was extended for a few more metres to fill the gap between the existing median and the PTR Palanivel Rajan statue roundabout. “If the driver is able to spot the median at once on entering New Natham Road from Gokhale Road, he would take the right lane. Sparing this 25-foot-stretch is also a major reason for the accidents,” he said.
Wrong alignment
A city traffic police officer attributed the accidents to wrong alignment of the white line painted on the road. “The white broken line (median) painted on the road before the median was constructed has a different alignment and ends a couple of feet right of the median. If a driver follows the white line, invariably he would end up hitting the median,” he said.
A city resident, S. Suresh, complained that there was a lack of proper signage and reflectors on city roads to indicate medians to fast approaching vehicles. This is the case even in Anna Nagar and K.K. Nagar, he said. The broken tips of medians at many places stand as proof for this lacuna. (However, after Tuesday’s accident, a sign of approaching median was painted on New Natham Road.)
Though the median work was completed a couple of months back, painting of the median with black and white zebra pattern has not been done so far. The alternative colour pattern would keep the drivers or riders of speeding vehicles aware of the median.
A highway official said that corrective measure to change the alignment of the broken line median would be taken up. Similarly, painting of the median would be taken up after the curing period. Several traffic infrastructure improvement works had to be taken up at PTR statue junction, he added.
Wide too
Road users also complain about the median being wide. Elsewhere, the concrete medians have wider base and narrow walls. However, here it has double concrete wall with a provision for growing decorative plants.
Similar median drew flake from road users when it was put up on Panagal Road about six years back. After it resulted in traffic snarls, the Corporation removed it.
The wider median also eats up a good portion of the carriageway on 80 feet Road in K.K. Nagar as the officials have failed to remove electric posts that remained on the carriageway. Same is the situation on Panagal Road where several electric posts remain on the carriage way.
Steel rod
A protruding steel rod — a remnant of a broken steel median — on Panagal Road was posing danger to the oncoming riders.
Highways officials claimed that the purpose of the median was to prevent head-on collisions. Besides, the median could streamline vehicular traffic and prevent unauthorised parking and encroachment. The medians would also do away with glaring headlights of oncoming vehicles.
