COIMBATORE: Officials from GVK EMRI have pitched the idea of creating ‘Red Corridors’ on arterial roads in Coimbatore city to facilitate hassle-free movement for ambulances. Recently, the State government revised the fine amount imposed for traffic violations. Blocking or refusing to give way for emergency vehicles such as fire tenders and ambulances will attract fine of Rs 10,000 under section 194E of the Motor Vehicles Act.
In the wake of the revision, officials in Coimbatore chalked out a plan that envisages creating a 6 to 10-foot exclusive track from the median on either side of the road to allow free movement for ambulances.
Speaking to TNIE, S Selvamuthukumar, District Programme Manager of GVK-EMRI said, “Due to traffic congestion, the emergency response time of the ambulances in the district has spiked from 10 minutes last year to 11 minutes this year.
In order to sort this out, we are planning to create a dedicated track for the ambulances on the arterial roads. With this, road users whenever they spot ambulances with blaring sirens can clear the route by moving to their left to allow the fleet to use the red corridor close to the median.”
A 6 to 10-foot-long track shall be earmarked as the red corridor depending upon the width of the roads.
As a pilot project, the plan may be implemented on the Trichy road stretch starting from the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) campus.
“The plan is currently in the development stage. Based on our preliminary project report, the district collector and the police department officials have revealed that they would green signal the idea throughout the district once all the flyover construction works are completed.” he said
“As per our preliminary analysis, this plan would facilitate a free movement of the ambulances which may further bring down the emergency response time,” he added.