Key routes such as the Benguluru Highway (NH:44) and the Madras-Kochi Road will soon be safer, as the Ranipet district police have rolled out five high-powered tempo vehicles to patrol highways and arterial roads within its limits round the clock. The vehicles were flagged off by Superintendent of Police (SP) D. V. Kiran Shruthi at the district police office in Ranipet.
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Forming part of road safety week initiative, the tempo vehicles’ patrol programme will strengthen the existing five-jeep patrol services and 26 motorcycle patrols, preventing highway robberies and other crimes within the newly-carved district. t
On an average, each tempo vehicle patrol team, with two officers on duty, will cover around 30 km in two shifts, round the clock. Initially, the patrol will be carried out in major towns like Arcot, Arakkonam, Wallajah, Ranipet and Sholingur. They will later be extended to the rural pockets in the district.
However, the primary function of the patrol in the district is to monitor movements of vehicles and people on major national highways like the Bengaluru Highway and State highways that connect Ranipet with its neighbouring districts like Tiruvannamalai, Kancheepuram and Vellore. “The tempo van patrol also helps police personnel reach accident victims on the highway in the district as it is equipped with basic emergency kit. It also will create general awareness about road safety to the public,” said Ms. Shruthi.
At present, the district police patrols 250 km every day with its decades-old jeeps. Among them, the Benguluru Highway between Pilayar Kuppam and Poonumani Pattarai in Ranipet is the longest, with a distance of 48 km, followed by the Madras-Kochi Road, with 26 km, which comes under the Ranipet police district limits. Separate police teams have been formed from each police station to carry out the new tempo van patrolling. A high-level team led by the SP and S. Raja Sundar, Deputy SP of Road Monitoring Cell, will monitor the teams on a daily basis.