Anna Salai, the city’s commercial lifeline, was choked with traffic through the day on Tuesday as thousands of people flocked to shops to buy helmets to avoid being penalised by traffic police Wednesday onwards.
The rush, which began around 9 a.m., lasted till 10 p.m. The stores also made most of the moment, charging three times the original price. There were serpentine queues outside helmet stores on Anna Salai, Royapettah and T. Nagar.
Many shops did not have sufficient stock to meet the demand. Vehicles piled up on G.N. Chetty Road and the Gemini Flyover too was clogged. The situation was no better at G.P. Road. “The impact was felt on Cathedral Road and Nungambakkam High Road too. Cars and buses moved at a snail’s pace and two-wheelers tried to cut across the traffic,” said Ankith Chandran, a sales representative and a motorcyclist caught in the jam.
Traffic policemen said that they tried to regulate the crowd, but many two-wheeler riders were undisciplined. “We made them park the vehicles on Aziz Mulk Street, but the crowd kept swelling and people started parking the two-wheelers on the main road,” said a constable.
