Even after a heart-rending accident involving two students in August, 2014 at the junction of Sowmiya Nagar and Mambakkam Main Road, Medavakkam, vehicle users continue to throw caution to the wind, indulging in rash and reckless driving.
In August, two students travelling on a motorbike were fatally knocked down by a tanker lorry at the junction.
The bike skidded when one of the deceased, identified as M. Ashwin, tried to avoid a barricade and the lorry, which was also reportedly speeding, was tailgating the bike. Following the gory accident, the residents blocked the road demanding traffic signals and speed breakers. But till date, the authorities concerned have not taken steps to provide any of these things.
“Vehicles coming from Velachery Main Road and Mambakkam Main Road, Medavakkam, (from Sithalapakkam) drive at a breakneck speed. The worst-affected ones are the pedestrians, especially while they are using the thoroughfare (Mambakkam Main Road, Medavakkam),” S. Raghvan, a resident of Radha Nagar, said.
One way to prevent fatalities is to lay speed-breakers or a traffic signal at the junction towards Medavakkam and Sithalapakkam. Water tankers drive rashly and do not bother to stop at the junction. We find it difficult even to cross the road,” P. Murugan, a pedestrian, said.
“To avoid the burgeoning vehicular traffic and the chaotic situation due to non-functioning of traffic signals at the junction of Velachery Main Road and Mambakkam Main Road, Medavakkam, and Velachery Main Road and Perumbakkam Main Road, Medavakkam, vehicle-users rashly pass through Sowmiya Nagar to go to IT Corridor and East Coast Road,” S. Raghunathan, a resident of Sowmiya Nagar, said.
“Even vehicles coming from Sowmiya Nagar, Radha Nagar, Sastha Avenue, Medavakkam, and Sithalapakkam, do not stop at the junction,” he pointed out. When contacted, the traffic police said the local body (Medavakkkam or Perumbakkam First Grade Panchayat) has to take steps to lay speed-breakers and install traffic signals.
