By Express News Service CHENNAI: With at least five schools in the vicinity and heavy flow of vehicles, a non-functional traffic signal on the junction near the Ambattur OT bus stop poses a major risk of accidents. It has been over a month since the signal stopped working and due to this, traffic jams have become a common sight. Located just 200 metres away from the bus stand, the busy junction connects Koyambedu and Avadi, Koyambedu market area and Ambattur suburbs. “It is a nightmare to cross this stretch during peak hours. Though traffic police are available for about four hours, it gets chaotic with motorists trying to zip past the cop. Traffic congestion is an everyday issue and lately, accidents too have become a common site with vehicles coming from opposite sides ramming into each other,” said KL Ramakrishnan, a long time resident of the area. Veeramani Sekar from Thozhan NGO who conducts regular road safety drives at the junction, said, “The stop line on the road has almost disappeared, so motorists park their vehicles way past where the line should have been. This is one of the major reasons for traffic snarls. Public must also start acting responsibly till the issue is resolved.” During certain hours of the day, students constitute a majority of the pedestrians. “We elders feel scared to cross the road with speeding vehicles moving back and forth without any order. For children, it is extremely difficult. Recently, my son’s friend was knocked down by a motorist, while he was trying to cross the road. The young boy was left with bleeding arms and legs. The officials must wake up to this issue before something major happens,” said 48-year-old Krishnaveni Kumar.Adding to the traffic congestion are a large number of school vans and cars that are parked around the junction to pick up and drop students. When contacted, a local traffic cop said they had sent repeated reminders to the higher officials and that they would be managing the traffic manually till the traffic signal is repaired.

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