In a move to help policemen reach road accident spots faster and lessen the trauma and waiting time of relatives and friends of people killed in such instances, the State government has bifurcated the St. Thomas Mount Traffic Police (Accident Investigation).
The creation on Thursday of the new wing — Chromepet Traffic Police (Accident Investigation) — with its office in Tambaram, is an attempt to streamline traffic investigations considering the vast size of the southern suburbs.
Until 2005, accidents, both fatal and non-fatal were investigated by policemen attached to the nearest police stations. As the policemen were already burdened with law and order incidents, crimes and other cases, it was decided to form a new wing – Grand Southern Trunk Road Traffic Investigation in Tambaram in February 2005.
The wing probed accidents on GST Road between Kathipara and Irumbuliyur. A few months later, the wing was entrusted with the responsibility all accidents in areas under the jurisdiction of the 15 police stations of St. Thomas Mount Police District.
In 2009, it was renamed as St. Thomas Mount Traffic Police (Accident Investigation) and shifted to Tiruneermalai Road in Nagalkeni. Despite the creation of a dedicated wing to investigate accidents, the burden on the policemen continued to be enormous due to the sheer number of cases.
Also, relatives of victims often had to travel to the office from far off places such as Vengaivaasal, Perungalathur, Mudichur and Nagalkeni.
The bifurcation, said a senior police officer in the suburbs, would ease the administrative burden on staff and reduce the waiting time for relatives at police stations.
Policemen also found it extremely difficult to park vehicles in the station as the space had been taken over by vehicles involved in accidents. In Nagalkeni, heavy vehicles are even parked on the service lane below the road overbridge. The move might also help resolve this issue, said policemen in Tambaram.
