Can the mere installation of a traffic signal make any difference in an accident-prone area? Well, the police are trying to believe so, after having installed a traffic signal at the Vellar junction, near Kovalam, one of the two black spots identified within the city limits.
While the traffic signal at Vellar became operational on Saturday, another is awaiting completion of allied works. The second black spot in the city was East Fort, City Police Commissioner H. Venkatesh said.
Efforts to make East Fort a safer traffic zone were initiated earlier, with the shifting of the median and related works. The work was still on, and was expected to be completed shortly, he said.
The two were classified as ‘black spots’ after the number of fatal accidents there crossed 10. East Fort recorded nearly 20 fatal accidents in the last one year and Vellar 10.
Traffic at Vattiyurkavu Junction has become chaotic these days. It is one of the city’s many three-road junctions — one to Vellanad, Aruvikkara, and Peroorkada; another to Puliyarakonam and Kulasekharam; and the third to Vellyambalam. There is an urgent need to put in palace a proper mechanism to regulate traffic.
Traffic in the area is more a free-for-all affair, with vehicles moving in all directions at the same time.
The junction does not have an automatic traffic signal. Usually, traffic police personnel are not posted to control the chaotic flow of vehicles.
With no authorised bus stop or bay, buses stop at whim. There is no proper parking place for autorickshaws and taxis, leading to complete chaos. It is high time a permanent solution to this mess is found.
Potholes, more often than not, appear bang in the middle of the road, but there is a big one in the city which is located a little to the side of the main road, at a blind spot, though no less dangerous. This one is located in front of the long waiting shed at PMG Junction, where buses to the Pattom side stop. Vehicles are safe as long as they move through the outer periphery or the middle of the road. But if the vehicles, especially buses and two-wheelers, move closer to the left, they are sure to land in the pothole. During the recent rain, a few motorists almost lost their balance after falling unknowingly into it.
