Silvester D'Souza

Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Feb 10: Road accidents have become the order of the day in the town and surrounding areas on account of ongoing highway widening work, problems created by the divider at the middle of the highway, and barricades that are erected at will without any reflectors. On the night of Friday February 8, a tanker toppled on the road, giving rise to total traffic chaos.

The accident happened in front of Surgeon Hospital at Ankadakatte here on national highway 66.

The tanker in question was moving towards Goa from the direction of Mangaluru on the night of Friday. It is said that the driver of the tanker, who failed to see the barricade planted in front of Surgeon Hospital from a distance, suddenly got surprised when his vehicle was about to hit it. In this unexpected development, the driver lost control of the bullet tanker. He tried to avoid hitting the barricade, and when he was doing so, the tanker fell by its side on the road.

This accident would have resulted in huge loss of material and human life if there were any vehicles immediately following the tanker. Traffic on the highway went out of gear for about four hours, it is gathered. Several commuters have accused businessmen of keeping barricades in the middle of the road with the purpose of giving wide publicity to their advertisement hoardings. They say that traffic on highway is adversely affected because of these businessmen, and they have sought the
policemen's help in removing the extra barricades.