Accidents boz of bad enforcement and designing of road-junctions
The Chinthamani Junction on Mettupalayam Road in the city is a mess with vehicles from East Periyasamy Road almost running into those coming from Cross Cut Road and Saibaba Colony.Not all accidents could be attributed to the failure or lapse on the part of the motorists. There are defects in enforcement and designing of road-junctions and traffic islands that contributed to the increasing accident rates. While education and enforcement drives were being stepped up to reduce fatal accident rate, the authorities need to turn their focus on failures in enforcement as well as bad road engineering and designing of junctions leading to accidents. These lapses in enforcement as well as defects contribute to the chaotic traffic, especially during peak hours.Coimbatore city accounts for many such badly designed road junctions. The notable among them include East Periyasamy Road - Mettuppalayam Road junction near North Coimbatore Chintamani, T.Stanes Junction in Race Course where a road branches off towards Sungam to join Tiruchi Road and the Lanka Corner Junction near Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.Motorists on Tiruchi Road towards railway station should thank their stars, if he/she was able to successfully negotiate the oncoming traffic from Town Hall while entering Railway Station Road. Similarly, motorists on Tiruchi Road entering Race Course via Nirmala School from Sungam would have to exercise extra caution in negotiating the traffic bound for Tiruchi Road from both sides of Race Course.
The traffic island there blinds the eyes of the motorists towards the oncoming vehicles. The junction needs to be re-designed for effective traffic management and motorists feel that the stretch could be declared one-way.This is not an isolated case of a traffic island not serving any purpose and defeating the objective of road-safety. There are bus stops near signals and road curves that contribute to the chaos on city roads. The Road Safety-cum-Traffic Advisory meetings have religiously discussed these issues but nothing has translated into action. The East Periyasamy Road - Mettupalayam Road junction near North Coimbatore Chitmanani stands testimony to the lack of effective enforcement.
The fear of being hit by the motorists from East Periyasamy Road proceeding towards Mettupalayam Road could be overcome if the police deployed sergeants to book those who refuse to stop at the signal while coming from Avanashilingam University side of the road. These motorists proceed straight even if the signal is red thereby endangering the lives of motorists from East Periyasamy Road who proceed towards Mettuppalayam Road on getting the green signal.
A senior police official said the enforcement machinery was already aware of the problem and had initiated remedial measures.The re-designing of the Lanka Corner junction had already begun while designing process was underway in respect of Mettupalayam Road - East Periyasamy Road junction and T.Stanes Junction. The redesigning of the signal could be a long-term plan but for the time being discipline could be ensured by regulating the flow of vehicles on Mettuppalayam Road by booking the violators, motorists feel.
