Vehicles taking a risky U-turn near Samayapuram

THE Samayapuram Mariamman Temple has been attracting a huge number of devotees. especially Sabarimala pilgrims. This has caused a headache to drivers as due to the lack of proper warning signs or lights from Samayapuram to the Tiruchy-Chennai National Highway 45, making U-turns at night is a dangerous proposition. With the arrival of the Tamil month of Karthikai, pilgrims would be visiting Samayapuram as pail of their pilgrimage to Saba rimala. Usually, the temple attracts 10,000 devotees per day but would shoot up to 40,000 soon. Special arrangements have been made to deal with the massive crowds, according to a temple official. Due to the arrival of numerous vehicles, the connector linking Samayapuram and NH 45 sees vehicles crossing to opposite lanes to either enter or exit he town.

 Speaking to Express, R Rajesh Kumar, a Samayapuram cab driver, said, "I have been driving a cab in the locality for the past six years. We used to cross over two lanes of NH 45 to get to Tiruchy after visiting Samayapuram. Usually, vehicles from Tiruchy to Chennai make U-turns at the connector. But at night, as there are no proper warning signs or lights, drivers risk meeting with accidents. With the arrival of Sabarimala season, many tourists are visiting Samayapuram for darshan of the main de-ity of the temple. This means more vehicles would be coming through the area, increasing chances of accidents." It may be noted that due to the increasing accidents in the NH 45.

 The city police department has opted about four spots including Samayapuram, Tiruchy city limits, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan college and also near MAM college for constructing foot over bridges for reducing accidents. Similarly, the central minister Pon Radhakrishnan had also have stated that several developments are likely to be made in the NH 45 for preventing accidents as the particular part of NH 45 is known for having more number of accidents in the previous years.

 In the year 2015, there were about 828 accidents had oc-curred in the district and the statistics for next year had seemed increased.
Accidents statistics 2015
District Fatal Accident
156
Minor injury Accident
597
Total Accident Killed
828
Grievously injury Accident
7
Non-injury Accident
68
injured
161
Source:Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
source: epaper. . newindianexpress.com//c/23912135