With the removal of a permanent police checkpoint on the elevated rotary-shaped grade separator in Padi, motorists, especially motorcyclists, engage in rash driving.
It’s more than a month since the checkpoint was removed. Speed breakers on the four arms of the grade separator have not been effective in checking rash driving.
The situation is extremely grim during rush hour, when rash driving hits the nadir.
“Now, motorcyclists and drivers of four-wheelers slow down when they notice motorcyclists at high speed. However, during rush hour, everyone tries to proceed first, which results in accidents,” says R. Vijay, a motorist from Villivakkam.
The Rs. 130 crore Padi flyover was built to ease traffic congestion in the western parts of the city, including Ambattur, Anna Nagar, Villivakkam, Rettri, Red Hills and Kolathur and the Kolkata Highway as container lorries coming from the Kolkata Highway via Tada are held up along Jawaharlal Nehru Main Road (100-feet Road) between Rettri and Thirumangalam. These container lorries are headed for the Chennai port via Poonamallee High (PH) Road.
Further, Padi flyover is a key junction where Chennai–Tiruvallur High (CTH) Road meets JN Main Road.
Every day, more than 70,000 vehicles, especially container lorries, go via the flyover and PH Road to reach the port.
Further, many vehicles from the western parts of the Chennai that are headed towards the central parts of the city and take the flyover as GNT Road, which connects the port with the Kolkatta Highway, is congested due to the ongoing flyover work at Moolaikadai.
As the grade separator is a strategic point in terms of security, a permanent police patrol team has been deployed on the arm leading towards Villivakkam to monitor the movement of vehicles, especially those carrying goods to the port.
This provision is also aimed at checking crime as most of the offenders commit criminal acts, including chain snatching and bike thefts, in the heart of the city and escape to the suburbs to evade arrest.
On the question of checking rash driving, CCTV cameras installed on all arms of the flyover are not working for many months.
“Steps will be taken to re-deploy a police check team on the Padi flyover soon,” says a police officer.
