Vehicles with overloaded cargoes are becoming one of the worst offenders when it comes to unsafe riding.
Besides posing threats to the other road users, studies indicate that the vehicles with goods beyond its permissible payload capacity would emit more toxic gases vis-a-vis the vehicles that comply with the load specifications. Drivers are mostly having free run with overloaded cargoes because the police and the transport departments' officials had been booking cases primarily against the overloading in terms of number of passengers, which too mostly on two-wheelers, and been closing eyes against the vehicles with protruded goods on most of the occasions.
Citing the cases of electricity lines getting snapped, P. Somasundaram, secretary of Tirupur Consumer Voice, pointed out that vehicles with goods thrust outside were a threat from the point of pedestrians too.
He said that "Many of them tie the cargo not tightly and load can fall down at any point of time. Unless the police put a 'brake' on such movement of vehicles, the threat of serious accidents is looming high."
The vehicles with cargo projecting outside are also found creating traffic chaos in narrow lanes in many parts of the city and along underpasses like the one connecting Tirupur-Uthukuli road with Kongu Nagar.