The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Speeding trucks a danger on GST road

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 24, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Speeding trucks a danger on GST road

K. Manikandan

Attempts made by all sections, including the police, have failed to bear fruit

TRAFFIC VIOLATION: A lorry climbing over a central median on the Grand Southern Trunk Road at Vandalur. — Photo : A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM : Speeding lorries on the Grand Southern Trunk Road have been posing a danger to law abiding motorists apart from damaging centre medians that have been put up at considerable cost.

Residents and traders in Vandalur said attempts made by all sections, including the police, have failed to effectively address this issue. The heavy vehicles, particularly sand and tipper lorries, cross the GST Road at their convenience, with little regard for other motorists and road users. The stretch between Perunkulathur and Urapakkam particularly has become a high-risk zone.

Scores of these heavy vehicles cross the GST Road at Vandalur by climbing over the central median instead of travelling a little ahead to take an 'U' turn. The lorries make their way to Kancheepuram to collect loads of sand from quarries. In a bid to save a few minutes, they cross the GST Road by going over the medians.

Vehicles heading towards Tambaram from Chengalpattu are taken by surprise when the lorries suddenly emerge from nowhere. Though the problem has assumed serious proportions, efforts to rein in the undisciplined lorry drivers have failed. Employees of a petrol filling station in Vandalur said lorries occupied the entire service road in the area, leaving very little space for local residents who commute on their two-wheelers.

Despite the presence of a check post in the vicinity, lorry drivers throw safety norms to the wind. The lorries run over the median with impunity. Though no major accidents have been reported, it is only a matter of time before that happens, locals say.

At the railway level crossing near Vandalur railway station, the drivers park the sand lorries in a haphazard while waiting for the gates to open. And once the gates are opened, it is a free for all with the heavy vehicles leading the show.

The sand lorries are also parked without any consideration for others. The junction of the GST Road and the Vandalur - Kelambakkam Road, for instance is a traffic hellhole with the heavy vehicles parked there for a long time. Motorists wonder why it is that while two-wheelers are regularly subject to checks by highway and police patrol teams while rash driving by lorry drivers does not attract the attention of law enforcers.

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