A square-shaped flex board with wooden poles has been placed at the centre of Surapet Main Road, towards Puzhal in Ambattur, by the Chennai Traffic Police.
This initiative was taken as part of road-safety awareness week celebration.
The irony is that what has been installed to create awareness about road safety is actually obstructing traffic on the busy stretch and causing accidents, especially at night.
The junction, near Rakkie Theatre in Ambattur, on Surapet Main Road is congested as it is lined with many commercial establishments. Even after the installation of the flex board, motorists from interior streets come in the wrong side, taking advantage of the width of the road. As a result, there have been instances of accidents on the stretch.
To avoid taking a U-turn, a few metres away from the junction, motorists come in the wrong direction. “At night, the flex board is hardly visible from a distance, forcing us to brake suddenly. Installation of a flex board in the middle of the road is risky for motorists,” says K. Praveen, a resident of Ambattur.
Interestingly, a police booth is located at the junction, near the spot where the flex board is installed. The junction has a bus stop with hawkers and shops on both the sides of the stretch. In addition, many schools are located in the vicinity.
Taking advantage of the absence of traffic police personnel and the width of the road, a few motorists speed and overtake at the junction. During rush hour, the junction turns chaotic with school students and motorists coming from all directions trying to the cross the road.
Police sources say, “The flex board was erected because the junction witnesses huge crowd during rush hour. So, we felt people would read what is on the board,” say police sources.
