The terrible accident on Sunday near Uppiliapuram in the district involving a mini goods carrier, which claimed the lives of eight passengers and left nine others injured, is not a one-off occurrence in Tiruchi and elsewhere in the region.
Such accidents involving goods carriers transporting passengers in brazen violation of Motor Vehicle Rules right under the nose of the authorities concerned have kept recurring making light of the enforcement measures.
In many such tragic occurrences like the one that happened a couple of days ago, the disturbing fact is that the casualty figures have been multiple causing huge concern.
Sunday’s accident in broad daylight wherein the mini goods carrier with 17 passengers, including some minors on board plunged into a road-side open well, has yet again brought to limelight the impunity with which such gross violation of transporting people on board freight vehicles are being committed notwithstanding periodic drives carried out by the police and the Transport department under various heads.
While the law enforcers were quick to slap a case against the driver of the mini goods carrier, the recent accident has once again turned the spotlight on the need to put in place effective enforcement to check transportation of passengers on board goods vehicles.
Freight carriers, small and medium-sized, and big trucks transporting passengers from one destination to another is a common sight on highways and other thoroughfares in Tiruchi and elsewhere in the region.
Be it for a temple festival or marriage or other function besides political conclaves, goods carriers seem to have become the favoured vehicle to transport passengers in bulk unmindful of the violation being committed and the hazards involved for those involved on board.
Such illegal transportation of passengers in freight vehicles have only persisted if the slew of accidents reported over the years involving such carriers is any indication. These have been happening at a time when the authorities are keen on bringing down the accident rate.
Fatal accidents involving goods carriers transporting passengers in Tiruchi and its neighbouring Pudukottai have been all too frequent over the years.
A major accident took place near Thuvakudi on the outskirts of Tiruchi in October 2005 when a mini lorry in which a group of poor labourers were being transported like packed sardines to a construction site toppled thrice on the lost control on the Tiruchi - Thanjavur national highway before hitting a bus.
The accident during peak hour in the morning claimed the lives of 17 innocent labourers including many women.
A day after the accident, police swung into action seizing several freight vehicles found transporting passengers in Tiruchi Range.
A hitch-hiked ride by a group of students on a milk van to their school turned fatal as seven of them died after the vehicle collided with a private bus on the Pudukottai – Aranthangi road in June 2013.
In another incident, a mini goods carrier with over 20 passengers overturned at a turning causing the death of three women near Viralimalai in May 2014.
Another mass casualty took place in August 2016 when a goods carrier with a group of people on board was rammed by a private bus on the Tiruchi – Madurai national highway near Valanadu Kaikatti causing the death of 10 persons thrown out of the freight vehicle. The victims were part of the group on a visit to temples. Most of these accidents were reported during broad daylight.
A senior Transport Department official here acknowledged that transporting passengers on goods vehicles was a clear violation of rules. Goods vehicles were meant to carry only freight and not passengers, he further said. The Transport Department, he said, had been conducting periodic drives against such violations.
The use of goods carriers to transport passengers was prevalent more in the rural areas as such vehicles were engaged for temple festivals, or to attend a condolence or for other functions. It is the cost factor that drives them to engage freight vehicles as it would work out cheaper than hiring vans or other bigger passenger vehicles, says the official.
“The high casualty figures in the wake of the recent accident involving a mini goods carrier near Uppiliapuram calls for more stringent enforcement of rules on the part of the police and Transport Department officials,” said M. Sekaran, member, District Road Safety Council.
The onus is also on public to desist from travelling on goods carriers thereby risking their lives. There has to be continuous action on the part of the enforcement agencies to thwart freight vehicle drivers from transporting public, he added.
As a sequel to Sunday’s tragedy, Tiruchi Rural Police stepped up the drive against freight vehicles found transporting passengers. Three mini-goods carriers which were found committing such violations were impounded in Musiri sub division on Monday. Instructions have been given to field-level traffic police officers to seize freight vehicles committing such violations.
