Police drive against motorised tricycles in Pondy

PONDICHERRY, MAR. 9. Pondicherry Motorised tricycles not permitted to ply Pondicherry March 9 Mr. M. Ramalingam, Superintendent of Police in charge of traffic, said in a press communication here on Thursday that a drive had been launched to take action against motorised tricycles which had not been permitted to operate in the traffic as they had been found to be causing serious and fatal accidents.

He said that a plethora of complaints had been received by the police authorities from the public drawing the attention of the police to the practice of such vehicles carrying commodities and goods such as iron rods, pipes and fish baskets. They had been operating from Veerampattinam and other coastal villages to the big market in the town.

They had also been carrying passengers along with the goods. Mr. Ramalingam said the driver of such `illegal' vehicles did not possess valid licences for driving such vehicles. The police had taken up the matter with the Transport Commissioner to impose a strict ban on operation of such vehicles.

The serious implication of plying such unregistered and motorised tricycles was that whenever road accidents occurred, the victims were not entitled to claim any insurance payment and the traffic police found it difficult to book cases against the riders of such vehicles under the Motor Vehicles Act.

Mr. Ramalingam referred to one recent fatal accident caused by the `illegal tricycle`. A village administrative officer in Tamil Nadu, R. Radhakrishnan, who was riding a two-wheeler met with an accident on the East Coast Road in Karuvadikuppam. The motorised tricycle carrying lengthy iron rods knocked him down and killed him on the spot. The traffic police are taking stern action against such illegal tricycles.

He appealed to vehicle-owners, particularly two-wheeler riders, and van, lorry and bus operators to ensure that their vehicles had the number plates as per the specifications of the Motor Vehicles Act on both sides of the vehicles. This should be done within a week as the traffic police had planned to lunch a special drive to ascertain whether this statutory prescription was adhered to by vehicle-owners.

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Section  : Southern States
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