[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by SR-71

I have said this in the past and I will say this again, rash driving of bus in Kerala has reached endemic proportions. I have put in enough kilometers across all the four southern states and I can say, its downright scary when it comes to dealing with bus drivers in Kerala be it public or private ones compared to any other state. The authorities seem to be least bit worried about taking actions to put this to rest. The family should sue KSRTC for this.

100% agree. Every time we visit family in Kerala, it becomes apparent that the quality of state transport bus drivers in Kerala is awful. Rash, huge egos and there are many in the general public who think these are "expert" drivers.

None of the neighbouring states have this issue. There will be the odd rash bus driver but the vast majority will drive safely and patiently.

[Renjith Rajan]

This is the aftermath of road rage. The driver is not fit to drive again with this kind of ego.

It is obvious the kids were blocking the bus (looking at the way the bus driving minutes before the video) and they braked seconds before the accident during the overtaking manure.

We should just let pass KSRTC buses if it is following for sometime, most likely their average speed is higher than ours, even if we are in a faster vehicle. Bigger vehicles can make overtaking opportunities that are not available to smaller vehicles. So It's not worth blocking them.

[chinkara]

Originally Posted by Renjith Rajan

This is the aftermath of road rage. The driver is not fit to drive again with this kind of ego.

It is obvious the kids were blocking the bus (looking at the way the bus driving minutes before the video) and they braked seconds before the accident during the overtaking manure.

We should just let pass KSRTC buses if it is following for sometime, most likely their average speed is higher than ours, even if we are in a faster vehicle. Bigger vehicles can make overtaking opportunities that are not available to smaller vehicles. So It's not worth blocking them.

1. Why is this an "ego" issue? This is murder.
2. If KSRTC buses expect the sea to part for them when they drive, then the government should make separate roads and expressways for them (where no other vehicles should be allowed). If they are unable to obey basic drving rules, they are unfit to be in public roads.

[Sarath_]

Originally Posted by Piyush_DT

The bus driver overtook and turned right at the exact time to squeeze them. It's intentional and it's cold blooded murder. This is not the first time driver would have done for sure.The biker would have not known how dangerous the driver could be even if he had an altercation.

We need to remember everyday that there are some sadistic people around us who can go to any extent to take revenge or to satisfy their ego.

I second this thought. Even the initial report suggested no fault of the bus driver, exonerating him. Damage to the bus will be borne by the government. Any compensation to the victims will again be borne by the government. He would have been on another routine bus route when the news of the video must have broken out.

You will see a lot of cases of such deaths on highways and with the injuries it is clear that its a heavy vehicle such as a bus or truck. By the end of my residency I was convinced that my earlier assumption that some of these deaths can be relegated to a few errant truck drivers was not true. Although I cannot substantiate it, I was sure that almost every truck with have blood on them, I mean literally. Using forensic methods if one were to examine every truck a shocking number of cold cases can be solved.


@harimkd Kudos to your contribution in bringing light to the the truth.

[R2D2]

This is terrible to watch. That bus driver deliberately swerved to the right and you can see the two wheeler being pinned between the body of the bus and the truck eventually falling with both rider/pillion going under the truck's rear wheel in a matter of seconds. May their souls RIP. That bus driver ought to be arrested for rash and negligent driving + murder..

[noufal.ps]

This is clearly intentional by RTC driver. I have experienced this in past and it goes like this,
- KRTC cut me badly (same type of KSRTC)
- I sped up overtook and tried the 'slow moving car in front of him' thing. This was in 20s in Skoda Rapid
- Bus driver's ego was hurt and he does everything to cover me. This was on Thamarassery Churam (where you have so many turns)
- I sped up and covered few more vehicles to save my ego. Lost the bus

Lesson learnt: KSRTC drivers are super aggressive and they drive the largest metal on road. Never mess around for own peace of mind, let go let go just let go

Here the driver wanted to play 'scare' the bike by waving right and it ended in a sad disaster. He should get model punishment.

[Jude300]

Man, this is crazy and is just one of the many such rage acts that KSRTC drivers do. This video is heart breaking. I just drove this route yesterday on my way back to Chennai.

I am not generalising but as a passenger and a road user their attitude is among the worst and the department needs to work on it. They think they are invincible and that they own the routes. They almost walk free in most such cases and this driver would also have done that if not for this evidence.

My mother always refers to KSRTC buses as 'shekuthan' (devil) and warns me each time there is a buses trying to overtake me asking to give way. She says, "give way to the devil, let him go." We have had 2 instances where these buses have damaged our cars within Trivandrum City and they showed us their attitude "go do whatever you can". This was long back, before the dashcam era.

I feel very sorry for the 2 souls. May them rest in peace.

[dhanushs]

Damn.. This is so depressing to watch. Great work @harimkd, on highlighting this to the media.

Whoever is WRONG should pay for his mistakes.

[igemini]

That act by the KSRTC driver was nothing but a vicious cold blooded murder on purpose. That too 2 souls. As the local news channels reports, probably the driver had some arguments with the bikers prior to this incident and to satisfy his ego, his criminal mind commited these 2 murders.

Half of the KSRTC drivers, if not more have similar mentality and they are never bothered about the safety of other fellow road users. Let it be bikers, other motorists or even pedastrians. Especially when they overtake, they do it like maniacs. Most of the times the other motorists at the receiving ends are the one who avoids the accidents and definitely not by these KSRTC drivers. If not, I'm sure the murders committing by the KSRTC drivers would have been in hundreds everyday.

Not long ago one of the KSRTC driver, driven a passenger loaded bus through a highly flooded road and endangered many of the passenger's life.

The major reason behind all these are the lack of strict punishment and they always have a feeling that even if they kill someone in a road accident, they can be out of it without any trouble. Probably a couple of months suspension only. Moreover the intervention of the political parties or labour unions at KSRTC, will give courage to such criminals and to do such acts again and again.

In my personal opinion, the drivers at KSRTC definitely needs to undergo mandatory safe driving practice lessons and strict punishments on such purposeful acts. They shall keep a dash cam at the front, back and also one facing the driver.

I truly hope this criminal will get the capital punishment for these murders. He performed this for no real reason but probably for fun or to satisfy his ago. Let the families who lost those men have the courage to sail through this hardship and I sincerely hope they will get justice.

[ajajthk7]

Maybe God have mercy on their souls.

KSRTC bus drivers are becoming overly aggressive and it is affecting other road users. I use this particular stretch of road quite often and I see most if not all RTC divers behaving the same way. Honking endlessly and aggressively getting up close and personal with the car. Even when approaching a bus stop, quite a few times these guys overtake and then brake immediately right in front of the car. Now I know exactly where all bus stops are in that stretch.

[Hayek]

Just don’t get why the bus guy swerved right - almost seemed like a deliberate act. Extremely disturbing. While we can all hope for exemplary punishment, the fact is this case will not be heard for another 10+ years - which is the real challenge here.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by harimkd

Kerala is infamous for road accidents and bad driving habits, just like any other place in India. Road rage is also very common in Kerala,
Accident Video: https://Youtu.be/wnBmvhQffGA
Full event : https://Youtu.be/7fYtC0S0xXk

A sad and unfortunate incident resulting in loss of life of two youths
You have done a good job and kudos for the yeoman work, in the true spirit of a Team Bhpian.

[SideView]

There is not much to discuss here, this is premeditated murder and deserves capital punishment.

Only way to reduce such rash driving is to penalise them.

Partly the KSRTC board is to blame for rash driving of drivers as they keep unrealistic timelines on travel.


Sadly the rash driving is not only done by the KSRTC guys it is also noticed in private buses (especially limited stop ones) and tipper lorries.

[alphadog]

I am an orthopaedic surgeon and just 3 weeks ago, I treated two patients who were in a Qualis versus KSRTC bus head on collision (overtaking gone wrong). One another occupant , a young lady died on the accident spot. Both the surviving patients ended up with severe facial, head injuries and multiple limb fractures. They both had to undergo multiple surgeries to fix them up and now they face months or even years of recovery and rehabilitation.
This is only one of the many and frequent accidents involving buses in Kerala. Another dangerous vehicle is the tipper lorry.

I drive and also ride motorbikes and these KSRTC and private Kerala buses are disastrous to the other road users. They expect other users to move out of their way and execute very unsafe overtaking manoeuvres, on undivided roads. Of course, what makes the situation worse is narrow congested roads of Kerala, with linear developments along roadside, with no real free stretches and increasing number of vehicles using poor infrastructure.

These devils have the typical Kerala-style-union support, which makes them reckless and arrogant and nothing really comes off having a tiff with them or even if one were to take them to the courts. Best is to stay out of their way and not get into any arguments, ego-one upmanship or trying to teach these people lessons on the road.

Whats worse is that when these 'superbikes' , which is what the local media calls them, with youngsters are the victims, the public and authorities have a tendency to immediately place the blame on the bikers.

Such a shameful and alarming incident this. Hope this particular driver is taken to task and thanks and kudos to the OP for making the video known to media and authorities.
My thoughts and prayers for the family of the deceased. Om Shanthi.

[GKR9900]

I believe the thread title needs to be updated. It is not an 'accident' by any stretch of imagination. Have reported it to the mods and hopefully they change it as soon as possible.

The following is a discussion regarding this issue that came up on a news channel.

https://youtu.be/2dDk19LrrfM

Around the 9:10 time mark, the road safety expert (who is a government official himself) on the panel talks about a previous incident in Trivandrum where a KSRTC ran over a person. He went to meet the then transport minister regarding this issue and the reply from the minister really hammers in some disturbing remarks. Quoting from the above discussion, the minister told that 'KSRTC have 3500 buses and atleast 2 lives are taken every day by them. There's nothing that we can do'. This coming from the minister himself is absolutely astonishing. In that interview he also talks about how this one incident came to light because of the dashcam recording. There are countless others that are swept under the carpet. Jeez! I shudder to think that this is the state of traffic in my state.