Poor visibility of oncoming vehicles, location of a couple of bus shelters and a road intersection have all made Narthamalai on Tiruchi-Karaikudi National Highway an accident-prone area.
While minor accidents do occur often, last month five persons bound for Tiruchi were killed when their van collided head-on with a bus.
Residents of Narthamalai and surrounding villages said that the alignment of the highway should be altered altogether for ensuring safety. Since there was a sharp curve, poor visibility of oncoming vehicles resulted in accidents, they said.
Secondly, a service road should be provided in the area as a couple of passenger-shelters have been constructed close to the highway. According to K. Mohanraj, founder of Pudukottai District Accident Prevention and Rescue Operation Committee, at least 30 accidents, including minor ones, were reported at Narthamalai till May this year. He said that service roads should be provided on either side of the National Highway and passenger shelters shifted to those roads. “When town and mofussil buses stop here, dearth of carriage space for passing-through vehicles poses a threat,” he said. Further, no high-mast lights have been provided on this highway in general and at Narthamalai in particular. Even the June accident was caused due to absence of streetlights in the pitch dark area.
An intersection where a rural road branches off from the highway also poses another problem. “Drivers, particularly those new to this stretch, are caught unawares when vehicles from the rural road join the highway all of a sudden,” the residents said.
Collector S. Ganesh had promised to constitute a committee, comprising transport and police officials, to analyse the causes of accidents. Satellite images would be utilised for re-aligning the road, he had assured.
“Service roads should be provided on either side of the National Highway and passenger shelters shifted”
