Cops flash signal plan as fatal accidents rise in Chennai

CHENNAI: The Chennai suburban police has come up with a comprehensive plan to install 20 more automatic traffic signals at important junctions to ease traffic congestion. These automatic signals will soon be installed along busy roads, including Mount-Poonamallee High Road, at an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore.

The stretches selected for the automatic traffic signals also comprise Mugalivakkam High Road, Porur Service Road, Ambattur-CTH Road, Vannagaram junction and Vellapanchavadi junction on Poonamallee High Road, Vadakarai junction, Tiruvallur Koot Road Junction and Madhavaram Roundtana along Grand Northern Trunk (GNT) Road.

‘The project will be funded by the government under the State Road Safety Fund,” deputy commissioner (traffic), Chennai suburban police, K. Karthikeyan told Deccan Chronicle. “The aim of installing tha traffic signals is to decongest major intersections and junctions within our limits and ensure that road users are safer.”

“At present, 45 automatic traffic signals are working successfully in the suburbs,” he added.

“They are of great help in easing traffic congestion during peak hours. We planned to install more signals to prevent accidents, which have been on the rise in the recent past on eight stretches,” he said. Among these stretches, data reveals that on Mount-Poonamallee High Road there were 58 fatal accidents in 2010 against 38 in 2009. CTH Road in Ambattur witnessed 69 fatal accidents in 2010 over 54 in 2009.

Source: Deccan Chronicle