One more biker dies after falling off newly opened Trichy Road flyover in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: A speeding biker died after falling off the Trichy Road flyover in Coimbatore Thursday morning. This was the third death after the flyover was opened to the public on June 10.


The traffic investigation wing (TIW-east) of Coimbatore city police identified the deceased as M Anandakumar, 51, of Thomas Street in the city.

Anandakumar, who was working at Mahalakshmi Store in Ondipudur, was proceeding to his workplace on a motorcycle. He rode the motorcycle in a rash and negligent manner on the flyover and crossed a rumble strip. He was not able to control his motorcycle. The motorcycle hit the parapet of the flyover, and he fell from a height of 40 feet. The helmet was found on the flyover and his head hit the road. He died on the spot.

Coimbatore city police commissioner V Balakrishnan, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Mathivanan, National Highways divisional engineer Samuthirakani and other officials from the traffic police and national highways inspected the accident spot on the flyover. Balakrishnan asked National Highways officials to install a wire mesh fence on the parapet of the flyover for a height of three feet and for a stretch of 3.15km, from the stock exchange building area to Rainbow (old apartment).

The flyover was reopened on Saturday after two weeks as the National Highways wing of State Highways installed ten rumble strips on it to reduce the speed limits. The officials also installed more than 1,000 reflective road studs on the road. However, many motorists did not follow the speed limit.

“We have advised the motorists to maintain a speed limit of 40kmph on the Trichy Road flyover and 30kmph on the down ramp which leads towards Sungam -Ukkadam Road. The flyover has 10 rumble strips to reduce speed. But many motorists did not bother about the speed and they rode their vehicles more than 80kmph on the flyover which led to the fatal accidents,” said a national highways official.

On June 24, K Hariharan, 19, a native of Karur district, was killed after his motorcycle hit the parapet of the flyover. He fell off the flyover and died. On June 12, M Prasanth, 28, died after his motorcycle hit the parapet of the flyover.