Thiruvananthapuram: Accidents have increased between Kazhakoottam and Chackai on the NH bypass as the newly widened road is yet to get basic safety additions. On Saturday, a car heading towards the airport crashed into a truck at Technopark seriously injuring three including the driver who is still battling for life. Accidents involving two-wheelers are common in Kulathoor area. Last week, a sedan crashed into a median near the abandoned Akkulam toll plaza and another crashed near Chackai.
In a case of road rage, two teenage motorists were held for breaking the windshield of a car near Kulathoor. Policemen and techies say, lanes, the lack of a side median and road markings cause pandemonium in the stretch where the average speed has dramatically increased after widening. “There are no road markings that separate all four lanes. As a result, many vehicles move on the middle of the road. Two-wheelers which overtake from the left get hit by cars that shift between lanes,” said techie Hari Krishnana Nair who travels on the stretch to technopark everyday.
Kazhakoottam police officials said that interceptors were deployed often here. “The bigger problem is we are yet to have sub-roads and side medians that separate local vehicles from entering the highway in the wrong way. Now, two- wheelers speed up in the opposite direction of highway traffic. During peak hours, we deployed policemen to manually control this. The situation might continue until the stretch in completely ready for thoroughfare,” officials said.
