Trichy: To prevent accidents in the early hours, identified as the most vulnerable period for drivers to doze off, Ariyalur police have taken up an initiative to provide hot beverages to highway drivers. As vehicular movement on the highways going past the district has surged in view of Pongal, the district police department has launched the initiative through local police stations and highway patrols covering the accident-prone spots.According to Ariyalur police, a few highway stretches in the district including Kumbakonam-Chennai NH45C, T Palur to Madanathur and Jeyamkondam to Silal were accident-prone. As people in large numbers have been hitting the road to celebrate Pongal with family, police said that vehicular movement on the accident-prone stretches had increased and so had the vulnerability. To prevent accidents happening due to fatigue, Ariyalur superintendent of police V R Srinivasan had a few days ago instructed police stations in the Jeyamkondam subdivision to undertake preventive measures.Apparently, T Palur police station personnel came up with a unique effort by providing refreshments to drivers plying on the accident-prone highways between 1 am and 5 am. “Bus and lorry drivers are mostly intercepted for striking a conversation before providing hot beverages to prevent them from dozing off,” K Selvakumari, inspector of T Palur police station, told TOI.

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