Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Disciplinary action against sub-inspector, 3 constables

By Karthik Subramanian

Photo: S. Thanthoni

CIRCLE OF DEATH: On Nelson Manickam Road, the site of Monday's peak hour road death is now marked with the "caution" sign. If each death over the last five years were painted in this manner, the city roads would have 2,472 yellow circles.

CHENNAI OCT. 14. The familiar "yellow circle" warning sign with `304 A' marking has come up at the accident site on Nelson Manickam Road, Choolaimedu, where a lorry fatally ran over a government employee and injured three others on Monday.

The traffic police, meanwhile, initiated "disciplinary action" against a sub-inspector and three constables for dereliction of duty in allowing the lorry to enter the busy arterial road during "prohibited hours". (Movement of private lorries has been restricted to 8 p.m-8 a.m.).

The Joint Commissioner (Traffic), Uma Ganapati Sastri, said the accident was the "most unfortunate" but justified the action of the constable in taking the lorry to the police station as it was left abandoned by the driver and cleaner after the vehicle involved in an accident with a four-wheeler near Mehta Nagar.

The constable, who reached the spot, took the service of a driver with a valid licence to remove the vehicle. But what happened a few metres away was the "most unfortunate", Mr. Sastri said.

The Deputy Commissioner for Traffic (North), Abash Kumar, said the enquiry into the accident revealed that the brake had indeed failed.

The traffic police have powers to detain a vehicle entering the city during prohibited hours and levy a fine of Rs 50.

Mr. Sastri said the traffic police were trying their best to prohibit movement of lorries within the city during daytime. But in this case, the lorry, which was loaded with toiletry goods, was travelling in the heart of the city. "We have been booking vehicles moving in prohibited zones. But sometimes it is inevitable that some vehicles slip through," he added.

The accident happened at around 9-30 a.m., one and half hours after the deadline for movement expired. When asked how many checkpoints the vehicle would have crossed by then, Mr. Sastri said the disciplinary action against four traffic personnel was taken.

Rise in fatal accidents

The number of fatal accidents seems to be on the rise this year. According to statistics provided by the Traffic Police, 33 more lives were lost on city roads, compared to the corresponding period last year, when the number of fatalities was 403.

Violations like entering prohibited zones were not being marked under separate heads in the traffic police registry.

The overall general violations booked this year was more than 95,000, traffic police said.

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