Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Auto drivers told not to overload

MADURAI: Various speakers reiterated the need for abiding by traffic rules and appealed to autorickshaw drivers to join hands in preventing road accidents. As part of the “road safety week”, the Transport Department and Madurai City traffic police had organised a meeting with auto drivers. Speaking on the occasion, RTO (North) N. Ravichandran said that auto drivers were the ambassadors of a city. With Madurai being a tourist destination, the role of auto drivers was crucial. Hence, he appealed to the drivers' to “handle with care” all the passengers and obey Motor Vehicles Act.

Traffic Police Officer (Planning) S. Kanagaraj said that auto drivers should not drink and drive. Similarly, he asked them not to fleece passengers. He advised them to be polite and avoid loading goods in passenger autos.

S. Mahaboob Batcha, a police officer from the Traffic Planning wing, recalled how an overloaded autorickshaw met with an accident near Samayanallur a few years ago in which an entire family of 11 lost their lives. The vehicle was crushed in the accident.

He also wanted the auto drivers' not to encourage their children to drive autorickshaws on roads as it proved dangerous to other vehicle users. With vehicle population rising every day, there was need for caution. Attention diversion such as talking over mobile phones should be avoided by auto drivers, he stressed.

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