Madurai: Madras high court on Monday directed the state highways department to file a report on a plea seeking a direction to the authorities to install sufficient lighting to provide proper illumination and strengthen night-time police patrolling, CCTV surveillance and emergency-response facilities on the Madurai Ring Road stretch connecting the Valayankulam, Chinthamani and Vandiyur toll plazas.
A division bench of Justice C V Karthikeyan and Justice R Sakthivel sought the report while hearing a public interest litigation filed by A F Parvesh Mushraf of Dindigul district. The absence of lighting substantially reduces the reaction time available to a driver when a pedestrian, cyclist or two-wheeler enters the path of a moving vehicle, thereby creating a foreseeable and avoidable risk of collision on a stretch where vehicles travel at a relatively high speed. Hence, the petitioner moved court seeking relief.