A recent road mishap at Kaiveli junction in Velacheri, Chennai, had a major impact on many lives: A motorist lost his life, another suffered serious injuries while the driver of another vehicle had a narrow escape. The said spot has always been risky for motorists.
A few days ago, C Marimuthu, a resident of Spic Nagar, was waiting in his car at the Kaiveli junction signal when he heard a loud bang, something had hit his vehicle.
Before he could come out of the shock and get a grasp of what had happened, he saw other motorists and passersby beat up the lorry driver who had hit his vehicle.
The police subsequently arrested the lorry driver Panneer (40), a resident of Medavakkam, and the Mount Traffic Investigation team registered a case against him. According to the FIR filed, the tipper lorry had hit two bikes and then Marimuthu’s car before coming to a halt. Sadly, one of the motorists, Sundaresan (50), died in the accident. He was a resident of Madipakkam and worked as a manager for a retail store in R K Mutt Road.
Arunmozhi Devi (24), who was riding pillion with her husband Chandrakumar (31) on the other vehicle, suffered injuries on her shoulder, head and hand.
“There was no vehicle in front of my car, otherwise mine would have hit it. If the lorry hadn’t stopped after hitting my car, a bigger tragedy might have occurred. Luckily, my wife and me escaped,” says Marimuthu.
This is not the first time such horrific accidents have taken place at this junction. The signal, he says, is a problematic place. Vehicles coming down fast from the bridge and the service road take a right turn here to reach Madipakkam.
Residents say there is only one remedy to bring down the accident rate here, and that is to remove the traffic signal at the spot so that vehicles will not take a turn there and instead use the next one.