The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Speeding lorry crushes moped rider to death

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 16, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Speeding lorry crushes moped rider to death

K. Manikandan

Victim knocked off bike, run over by sand truck

TAMBARAM : A 29-year-old man on a moped was killed on the spot when a speeding sand lorry knocked him down on Velachery Main Road at Selaiyur near Tambaram on Thursday.

Police identified the victim as H. Ramkumar, a vegetable vendor.

Ramkumar, a resident of Rajaji Nagar in Selaiyur, was on his way home for lunch on a TVS 50 moped. While nearing Selaiyur police station, the speeding lorry hit the moped and Ramkumar was thrown off. He was killed instantly when he came under the wheels of the lorry.

Residents of Selaiyur were furious at the accident, which they feel was due to failure of the government to keep the lorries in check. They say this has led to several accidents in the southern suburbs. Eyewitnesses were appalled at the rashness of heavy vehicle drivers in speeding, and that too close to a police station.

With construction work in full swing on Old Mahabalipuram Road and nearby areas, several hundred lorries transporting Palar river sand pass through Velachery Main Road. As many of them get delayed at railway level crossings and by traffic snarls, they tend to speed to make up for the time lost.

Overtaking on the wrong side, honking continuously, scant regard for stop-lines and other regulations are some of the problems created by these lorries, say residents and motorists.

Policemen acknowledge that bringing the lorry drivers under control was beyond their means.

Residents, while welcoming measures to install reflectors and barricades on Velachery Main Road, also pointed out there were hardly any road signs reminding motorists about the speed limit and warning them against speeding and rash driving.

Two-wheeler riders for long have complained that while they are detained for even trivial reasons, rashly driven lorries were outside the radar of law enforcers.

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