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-   -   Kerala tops in near-fatal road accidents (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/215718-kerala-tops-near-fatal-road-accidents.html)

Kerala tops the chart when it comes to the number of people getting grievously injured in road accidents and in 2018, the figure was 31,672, followed by Karnataka (21, 277). This was known from the latest data made available by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

The rate is alarming as it is almost 600% higher than the national average and 10,395 more than Karnataka.


Be it accidents involving two-wheelers, autos, cars, jeeps, vans and buses, Kerala tops the chart in terms of grievous injuries.

• The national average for accidents involving two-wheeler was 1,674, for Kerala it was 13,482.
  
• Grievous injuries caused by autos in state in 2018 was 2,861 when the national average was 357.
  
• In cases involving cars/jeeps/vans/taxis, the national average was 1,267, while the state figure was 10,009 cases.
  
• The figure for the grievously injured in bus accidents stood at 2,314, the highest in the country in 2018. The national average was 405.

Full Article

Not really surprising, isn't it? Majority of the state with undivided single lane highways, high population density leading to increased vehicle density on these narrow roads, higher disposable income leading to more vehicles, all leads to such a stat.

These appalling statistics give an insight into this chronic problem which is persistent for more than 2 decades !

About time the Kerala State Govt. took drastic measures to curb these mishaps.

Link

Also add potholes, total disregard to lane discipline, drinking and driving and buses/trucks being driven like it's a video game. :deadhorse

Many reasons for this as others have pointed out. Main would be the single lane highways and add impatient drivers who are always in a hurry. Recently saw in the news that Adimali police have started to patrol the Munnar ghat section (24x7) and stopping vehicles to educate the drivers. But yet, the numbers are rising.

And this is what the High Court Judge had to say on the poor state of roads in Cochin - Better to go to Moon than live in Kochi, says Kerala high court judge.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/72028997.cms

1. Narrow single carriageway roads, that are mostly windy in nature.

2. High population density with a linear form of development. Means, most of urban Kerala is roadside.

3. High vehicular density with most household having more than two vehicles.

4. Buses, both private and KSRTC hellbent on running to their schedules, whatever the road conditions are.

5. High proportion of daily commutes are done in two wheelers, which could easily be replaced by a proper suburban mass transit system.

6. Auto rickshaws are a pan state phenomenon, not just urban.

7. Traffic enforcement is cyclic in nature to the ruling parties whims, and seems to end at helmet enforcement and speed cams.

8. Lane manners are unheard of.

9. And to top it, the state roads are in their worst condition of late, though to be frank it's a cyclic thing. After monsoons and excuses, the road repairs will be done on a war footing and will remain good for 3-4 years.

Your points no 1 and 4 reminded me of me driving through Kerala for the first time back in 2012. Me and my friend had gone on a roadtrip to Kerala. Before the trip I was casually chatting with one of my friends who happens to be from Cochin and he had jokingly mentioned or rather warned me about buses being driven like video games on Kerala highways.

That warning had slipped through my mind completely but when we were going from Cochin to Thrissur, somewhere there was this blind turn and suddenly as I approached the turn there was this multicoloured bus coming straight at me at full speed which was apparently overtaking another vehicle on this blind turn. It literally scared the living daylights out of me and I was suddenly reminded about the warning that my friend gave me. After that incidence I threaded carefully till we exited Kerala.

Hardly surprising. Once upon a time, I used to love driving in Kerala. Now, I shudder at the very thought of it. Its suicidal. It still gives me jitters when I think of how a race between a state owned KSRTC Express and a private bus almost ended colliding with us head-on. Whenever I drive home to Kerala, I drive in the night.

There is a KSRTC service called Minnal. To give you an idea, the distance between Sulthan Bathery to Trivandrum is roughly 465km. Google map says it will take ~ 13 hours. Lets say, you take all the known and the unknown shortcuts, bypass cities, and don't make any stops. Logically, you are bound to take ~ 11 hours or whereabouts still. The Minnal is scheduled to cover the same distance in 9 hours and 30 minutes, covering all the important cities in between. And the drivers do deliver. And these are not Volvos or Scanias, but Ashok Leylands. Its actually faster than a damn train!

Even an atheist will start believing in god, if he sees one hurtling towards him and his family!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYIF1PCJKuk


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8XMBNyjVwE

Minnal service operates mostly from mid night to early morning and bus doesn't cover all the cities. Bathery minnal (via kottayam) has only 2 stops (Kottarakkara and Kottayam)between Trivandrum and Muvattupuzha and it takes bye pass roads ( Adoor bye pass and Changanacherry bye pass)

It covers all the important ones- Bathery, Kalpetta, Kozhikode, Kottakal, Thrissur, Muvattupizha, Kottayam, Kottarakara and Trivandrum (7 stops, not just 2 stops) and all this is in 9 hours, 30 minutes, and you seem to be in support of this.

Yes, I used to travel in these buses regularly. Bus starts at 10 pm in midnight and reaches Trivandrum around 7 am. This bus is usually late to arrive in Kozhikode and reaches Trivandrum mostly on time as it makes up the lost time while running through MC road. I don't find nothing unusual and dangerous in covering the whole time in less than 10 hours since the bus runs only during late night and early morning.

If the second Video in post #8 is a visual reference for how these buses are driven at night, I'd certainly be alarmed as a passenger!

What is absolutely surprising is that speed cameras have no effect on reducing accidents. I remember speed cameras were installed in Kerala around 2012 but from them on, accidents are actually rising. Goes on to prove, speed is not the real issue.

Some of the serious issues I've noticed are-

1) KSRTC and private bus rivalry. Already covered. Timings should be relaxed for those drivers- they're the maddest in the country!

2) Regular rains, which means wet conditions are the norm for a good half of the year. Consequently, braking distances increased.

3) I've seen many cars and bikes, apart from buses, having tyres worn beyond the tread wear indicators- which means most cars have compromised braking performance and can tend to aquaplane in the wet. This is something I don't see much in Chennai atleast.

4) Bind corners and nonexistent shoulders. Poses a huge problem with buses atleast.

You can't conclude after seeing just a one video. You have to look into the facts and numbers.How many accidents did Minnal buses make ? These buses are running for more than 2 years and no of accidents reported is very less. AFAIK, there was only one life lost (Kayamkulam)so far due to the Minnal bus accidents.

Kattappana(my place)- Trivandrum minnal service is operating for more than 2.5 years and till date not even one accident is reported. This is mainly due to bus has 2 drivers ( driver cum conductor) and one driver drives half way and the other driver drives the rest. So accident chance are less than most of the regular KSRTC services which mostly has one driver.

This data can be interpreted in a different way.

The number of accidental deaths per 10000 vehicles is very low in Kerala, compared to most states in India. But the number of accidents per 10000 vehicles and number of grievous injuries per 10000 vehicles are pretty high. This points to a relatively better emergency response system as well as better healthcare system.

So, many accidents which would have caused deaths in most other states in India, caused only injuries in Kerala. As a result, the number of serious injuries in Kerala is pretty high, but the number of deaths is pretty low.

Data from here.