Traffic was affected on North Beach Road for over 45 minutes during rush hour on Monday morning, after a Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus, heading towards Broadway, climbed over the median beneath the Reserve Bank of India subway and came to a stop on the other side of the road. No one was injured.
Police and eyewitnesses said that around 9.30 a.m, bus no. 102, plying from Kannagi Nagar to Broadway, was descending the subway, when a motorbike rider suddenly came in front of the bus from the left side.
Driver Seenan, 37, applied the brake and swerved the vehicle towards the right. However, the bus climbed over the median and stopped on the other side of the subway leading to the War Memorial.
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Driver in hospital
According to the Elephant Gate traffic investigation wing, there were 45 passengers in the bus. “No one was injured. The driver was in a state of shock and was given treatment at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital,” said a police officer.
Despite it being rush hour, no vehicle came through the subway at the time of the accident. “Usually there is heavy traffic here as people heading towards Anna Salai and the Secretariat staff use this subway. We blocked one side of the subway leading to the War Memorial and diverted vehicles through the service lane over the subway and NSC Bose Road,” the officer added.
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The police borrowed a crane from the Chennai Metro Rail Limited and cleared the subway within an hour of the accident.
G. Arun, who was heading to his office on Anna Salai, said that he had to wait in the traffic for nearly 30 minutes. “The Broadway locality gets congested during rush hour everyday and the situation just worsened due to the accident,” he said.