The recent death of a young two-wheeler rider at the dangerous curve at Elamkulam on S.A. Road where a dozen persons died in two-wheeler accidents in 2021 and 2022 has once again set alarm bells ringing.
The motorbike rider was reportedly taking a test drive along the corridor during day time, when he lost control of the vehicle and rammed into a metro rail pillar on the curve.
Barring pasting of reflectors and erection of a pair of warning boards, the agencies concerned did little to avert accidents at the curve, where there were level differences on the fast track of the road. The pile caps of metro pillars remained at constant level, while the rest of the road has been gradually sinking. Both the Kochi Corporation and the Public Works department (PWD) expressed funds crunch as the reason for not solving the problem beneath much of the metro viaduct on Banerjee Road, M.G. Road and S.A. Road. They termed slushy soil as the reason for the surface of the roads sinking.
