Elderly rider dies as scooter hits protruding manhole cover in Madipakkam

CHENNAI: An elderly motorist died after his bike hit a protruding manhole cover on a crater-filled road in Madipakkam, leading to his fall and subsequent death on Saturday night.

The deceased, V Chandrachari, was a 68-year-old resident of Lakshmi Nagar in Madipakkam.

The accident happened around 8.30 pm on Ramamurthy Nagar Main Road in Madipakkam. Chandrachari was riding his scooter along the road, manoeuvring the craters, when the vehicle hit a protruding manhole cover. In the impact, Chandrachari lost balance, fell off the vehicle and suffered injuries. Though he was wearing a helmet, he had not tightened the chin strap, the police said.

Locals who saw the elderly man falling off the bike rushed to his aid and alerted the ambulance service. Chandrachari was rushed to a hospital nearby where he was declared brought-dead.

The St Thomas Mount Traffic Investigation Wing (TIW) police moved the man's body to Chromepet government hospital for postmortem examination. Chandrachari ran a used car sales business in Tambaram together with his son-in-law Karthik.

Several roads in Madipakkam are not motorable and protruding manhole covers are a common sight, according to residents. Meanwhile, after the accident, local traffic enforcement personnel did patchwork on the area surrounding the protruding manhole cover.