Father, daughter killed in road accident near Chennai

CHENNAI: A 37-year-old man and his 12-year-old daughter, who were returning after attending a wedding, died after a truck hit a two-wheeler they were travelling on at 200feet road in Mathur near Tiruvottiyur on Sunday. The truck driver abandoned the vehicle and fled from the scene of accident.

Police said, Rajendra Prasad died on the spot while his daughter Lakshmi, 12, died while being rushed to the hospital. His son Abhishek, 10, who was also on the bike has been admitted to Stanley Medical College Hospital.

Residents staged a protest in the area and demanded the police to install speed breakers on the stretch as trucks are driven at high speed along the road flanked by residential areas. The police pacified the crowd and promised action to be taken.

Madhavaran traffic investigation team is on the lookout for him. Tamil Nadu has a dismal road safety record. With 1,742 people killed in 2015, Tamil Nadu recorded the fourth highest number of hit and run cases in the country. Uttar Pradesh leads with 2,511 deaths, followed by Maharashtra with 2,326, and Rajasthan with 2,284 deaths. Across the country, 20,709 people have died in 57,083 accidents in 2015. A report released recently by the Union ministry of road transport and highways titled Road Accidents in India – 2015 pointed out that that hit and run cases form up to 11.4% of all road accidents. This is an increase from 2014 when hit and run cases formed 10.9% of all road accidents.