KOCHI: Accidents, whether major or minor, have become a regular feature along the Seaport-Airport Road. When speeding vehicles combine with the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities, the result becomes nastier than one would expect. Each day rarely passes without an accident case being reported from this stretch.
While local people attribute the accidents to the absence of speed-breakers, traffic signals, humps and police officials, several lives are terminated or are wheelchair-bound. “Absence of road safety features has put the life of motorists and pedestrians at peril. In spite of repeated incidents, officials are not taking any initiative to curb the trend by installing traffic signals, speed breakers, humps or by deploying police personnel for traffic duties. Each time an accident occurs, one or two police officers are deployed for traffic duty, but it continues barely for two to three days. Then, we are again back to zero,” said a local man. According to him, Niya John, the girl who had died on the spot when a trailer truck crushed her, was waiting at the auto stand for going to her college.
“As it was Monday, no autorickshaw was available at the stand. The girl might have waited for an autorickshaw for going towards Rajagiri College, where she was studying. It was at this time that the trailer truck coming out of Infopark crushed her. It was travelling at such a high speed that the driver couldn’t halt the vehicle, which eventually hit a two-wheeler also,” he added.
Majority of the local people whom Express spoke to commented that police officials were mostly absent during the peak hours and were more interested in vehicle checking in the wee hours.
‘Hump will be Constructed’
On the other hand, officials with Infopark said that in the wake of repeated accidents, they were planning to construct a hump in front of the main entrance gate and it will be completed within one or two days.
“A hump will be put in place at the main entrance gate and this will gradually reduce the speed of vehicles entering the main road and as well as heading to the campus. We will also submit a proposal to the Road Safety Authority of India to install proper lighting facilities along the Seaport-Airport road stretch, which usually falls into darkness after dusk,” said an official with Infopark. When asked whether they were satisfied with the response of the police authorities in controlling vehicular traffic, the official said that most of the time the police officials acted for namesake and once the media and public glare shifts from the accident, they withdraw the officials.
Date : September 15, 2015