UDHAGAMANDALAM, DEC 19,
Road blinkers, highlighting blind and dangerous curves, are to be installed across the most accident-prone stretches in the Nilgiris, with the first one being installed at the Kattery Junction near Coonoor.
The Nilgiris district police said that they were studying which were the most dangerous stretches of road in the district for tourists, and among them, it was found that the Kattery Junction, leading to Selas from Coonoor town, was among the places where a high number of traffic incidents were recorded.
The junction where the fast, relatively traffic-free section of road from Selas meets the Mettupalayam – Coonoor Road at a precarious hairpin bend, has been made safer with the demolition of a few shops which were encroaching on the road till recently. Nilgiris District Superintendent of Police D. Shanmuga Priya said that the blinkers would caution motorists about approaching hairpin bends and blind curves, ensuring that they slow down in time before reaching any dangerous road sections. “We plan to also set up blinkers at Marapallam, between Coonoor and Mettupalayam, as there have been many accidents reported there as well,” she said, adding that the blinkers will eventually be installed across the district across multiple routes. The police are to combine installation of blinkers with putting up high-visibility stickers along retaining walls, barriers and tree trunks to signal to drivers, road limits, and prevent vehicles from driving off the edges of cliffs.
“The blinkers have been used in National Highways too just before an intersection, to slow down approaching vehicles, and we hope that they can play a similar role in minimising traffic accidents in the Nilgiris,” added Ms. Shanmuga Priya.
