[greenhorn]

As much as I would love for this driver to get the justice they deserve, drivers and conductors are a law unto themselves in Ksrtc which is in itself a law unto itself in Kerala. All that will happen is that a state prosecutor and a ksrtc lawyer will waste money while this driver will either continue endangering public lives with impunity or sit at home, all at the taxpayer's expense. This has gone viral online but TV channels seem to be strangely silent on this matter. That's the only way the govt is going to get pressured to act. Otherwise nothing will change. That's just the sad depressing reality of Kerala's labour militancy.

[Neversaygbye]

This was such a dreadful incident and I just cannot fathom the cold bloodedness of the driver in killing these two bikers, considering that he must have known that a bike is no match for a bus. I don't know why the bikers took him on but they obviously paid with their lives for doing so. The truck going comparatively slowly in the right lane also did not help. I think the truck driver also needs to be reprimanded for driving in the wrong lane, which indirectly led to this gruesome outcome.

[harimkd]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

This is no accident as the title says. This tragic incident is an act of cold-blooded murder by the bus driver, fueled by road rage and frustration.


Once he (the bus driver) starts to overtake the truck, the biker leads him, and suddenly slows down ahead of the bus. One can see the bike's brake light glow bright, even as the bus too brakes hard and his brake lights come on too (there is no obstruction ahead, and both lanes are clear - so obviously, the biker was harassing the bus driver). In desperation (and certainly in cold blood), the bus driver thought he would nudge the biker out of his way into the path of the truck, and speed away, even as the truck may or may not run over the biker and take the blame for the crash. His calculation went very wrong, the bike was trapped between the two large vehicles, and we see the result.

The biker started the process of his own (and his pillion rider's) death by infuriating the bus driver to have a bit of fun. Yet, an experienced State Transport bus driver is not expected to lose his cool and attempt to murder someone just because he is not getting to maintain speed .

Reports says that the bike rider and bus driver might had an argument earlier as the boys questioned the rash driving of the bus driver. But the incident reported to be happened almost 10 minutes before accident. Locals says that these boys used to have a modest driving habits and on that day also they were not in hurry. The road was vacant and the bus was doing a cut trip with less passengers so it could reach them easily.

At this spot, as far as I seen and recorded in the dashcam, the bikers didn’t do any thing wrong. Infact their actions seems that they don’t want to mess with the bus. If we watch closely, at 21:04:50, the bus tries to overtake the bike even though there is a truck ahead in left lane. At that moment, the bike just overtook the ritz car in the right lane and it moved to right from left lane. The KSRTC tried to overtake the bike even though there was not much space as there is truck in the left lane. Bus should have followed the bike but it tried to overtake there, but failed.

Then we have a truck in left lane, another truck in right lane followed by bike and bus. At 21:05 we can hear the bus honking and may be because of it bike just started to overtake the truck through left. [21:05:05]. At that point the bus cant move to left lane to overtake as it was not even covered the first half of the truck. If the bikers wanted to block the bus, they could have gone to the centre of the left lane but it seems they doesn’t want to block it. They doesn’t want to fight and given enough space for the bus to overtake through their left. The KSRTC driver just overtook, but also stopped to stear to right. At least on that spot, the bikers was not fighting with the bus.

Originally Posted by MisterG

It is horrible indeed, but is it possible that the bus driver miscalculated or wrongly assumed that the truck parked on the side (visible towards the end of the full video) is going to pull into the lane and wanted to switch lanes beforehand? Also the way he swerved looks like he was trying to over-correct the oversteer to avoid getting off the road. Either way, that was some bad driving especially by a heavy vehicle which wasted two lives.

I don’t think it a reason as the lorry not even had a slight move at the time of accident. It is clearly visible from dash cam visuals. More over the bus did the right turn by applying brake and honking. The truck was parked there and it cant move forward without reversing as there is another lorry in front of it.

Originally Posted by crdi

As per news articles, the bikers and the KSRTC driver had a heated exchange of words, sometime prior to this incident. I think the case is now being considered as intentional murder.

Presently they charged with normal 304 A IPC which is bailable. As media and people cry foul over it and the family of this boys responded strongly, now a special team is formed for enquiry. They just started the process and hope they will more appropriate sections.

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.

At least on that spot, the bikers don't want to block the bus. If we watch the video, at 21:05:05, we can see the bus was honking and wanted the bike to overtake the lorry or atleast give way to the bus. So bikers have no choice to stay on the lane but to overtake the truck. At that point the bus cant move to the left lane since it not yet covered the truck in the left lane. If bikers wanted to block the bus further, they could have moved to centre of left lane but they intentionally given way to the bus.

Originally Posted by Stribog

Am surprised more people didn't catch on to this. The first video doesn't provide the context but the second longer one does.

From this bit at least it's clear there was some problem between the bikers and the bus, as you pointed out, I too kept noticing the Bike brake check the bus repeatedly.

The actions of the bus driver is pure murder but come on, you owe yourself and your close ones the responsibility to get back home safely to them. Stop picking fights with a vehicle that is 60x your weight class!

Move to the shoulder, let the bus pass (if he is harassing you), curse him loudly even if you want to vent. If your BP is running high, stop, take a 5 min breather and move on with your life.

This was prima facie a case of a bike trying to take on a bus...and lost. Forget everything else, we know how fast, agile and torquey bikes are viz a state transport bus, this was a Duke. If the biker wished it so, he could have put a km between him and the bus in a matter of less than a minute and then coasted at cruising speed, the bus would have never caught up.

40% of the blame in my books would be on the biker.

I think bikers was not doing a fight at this spot as they were not blocking bus from overtaking. But they could have speed up easily from the spot but I think they not expecting the bus to fight with them.

The KSRTC driver is a veteran with 50 years of age and this is some thing un expected from such a senior guy.

[KayEss]

First off, in all my years of riding and driving in North India, one thing I have learnt is that roadways buses are fast, rashly driven and they don't care to slow down for anything.

Here's what I think happened.
1) I don't think it was deliberately done by the bus driver but it was certainly a case of extremely rash and aggressive driving by the bus driver
2) you can see how impatient the bus driver was by the fact that even when it had crossed a truck from the right before the fatal accident, it had tried to swerve to the left but checked himself at the last moment.
3) Now I think what happened was that the bike overtook the truck from the left by a good margin (and understandably so
4) right at that moment, the bus driver tried to overtake the bike from the left
5) in the process, the bus went too far to the left and in fact crossed over the white line at the shoulder
6) the bus driver panicked and tried to correct by swerving back to the right and also applied the brakes
7) the bike meanwhile also swerved to the right but, instead of cutting to the right and speeding away to put distance between, slowed down in what they might have thought to be the middle. Maybe they thought the bus will have enough clearance to cross them from the left
8) however since the bus was trying to arrest it's now out of control movement, it squished the bike between itself and the truck
9) if only the bike had accelerated away, this could've been prevented

This is not to say that the primary blame was with the bike; on the contrary, it happened because the bus driver did not wait for the bike to overtake the truck but chose to overtake the bike while it hadn't yet cleared the truck. I just don't think it was deliberate; just that it was extremely rash and irresponsible.

[george_kj]

RIP. A case of road rash gone wrong. It looks like the the bikers brake checked the bus few times starting from 0.30 in the video. The bikers seem to stop the the bus from overtaking. I am not complaining but my goal would be to stick to the left side of the road on an Indian Highway and even more so in the night.

[govindremesh]

Originally Posted by OffRoadFun

Yes, it looked like the bus driver was indeed frustrated with brake checking and there is an element of road rage here (though no justification). Still, of course, road rage can not justify killing of two lives.

Originally Posted by george_kj

RIP. A case of road rash gone wrong. It looks like the the bikers brake checked the bus few times starting from 0.30 in the video. The bikers seem to stop the the bus from overtaking. I am not complaining but my goal would be to stick to the left side of the road on an Indian Highway and even more so in the night.

Originally Posted by Samba

So an inflated ego with a temporary burst of anger led to a couple of deaths.
This accident has no justification, as it's not an accident, it looks intentional.
Though I believe, the bus driver wouldn't have wanted this as an outcome, he may have tried to bully the bike & this happened. I still believe there is some humanity left!

I agree with most of these comments. I don't think the bus driver "intended" to kill them. He did want to scare them though but he never thought that the outcome would be so bad. So to call it an "intentional, cold-blooded murder" is not right, IMHO. This was a case of road rage that ended badly. For this, the bus driver must be punished to ensure that he doesn't drive again, but a trial for murder is a bit too much. I will explain with a 10 frame photo explanation

Originally Posted by harimkd

At least on that spot, the bikers don't want to block the bus. If we watch the video, at 21:05:05, we can see the bus was honking and wanted the bike to overtake the lorry or atleast give way to the bus. So bikers have no choice to stay on the lane but to overtake the truck. At that point the bus cant move to the left lane since it not yet covered the truck in the left lane. If bikers wanted to block the bus further, they could have moved to centre of left lane but they intentionally given way to the bus.
I think bikers was not doing a fight at this spot as they were not blocking bus from overtaking. But they could have speed up easily from the spot but I think they not expecting the bus to fight with them.
.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

This is no accident as the title says. This tragic incident is an act of cold-blooded murder by the bus driver, fueled by road rage and frustration.

First up- Hari, thanks for sharing this and highlighting this to the media. Else either the truck driver or the bike rider would have been labelled the culprit.

However, I do think that the biker was partially responsible for this accident. From the evidence below, it seems that he was brake testing the bus for some time and had annoyed the bus driver. While it no means justifies the actions of the bus driver, the biker does carry some blame in this entire incident. Here's how:

Every disaster is a sequence of events. Here's the sequence in this one:

Starting at 21:04:49 (dashcam time). If you have watched the entire video The sequence of vehicles is the truck, followed by the bike which is followed by the KSRTC bus. You can see the brake light of the bike on the divider (circled)



21:04:57 - Again a brake light, this probably is again from the bike (in absence of other bikes in the situation and the fact that it's bouncing off the divider), but we cannot say for sure.



21:05:05 - the biker clears way for the bus. We do see another bike/scooter (mystery 2 wheeler) that's going to the far left of the road ahead of the truck on the left lane, which eventually goes on to the hard shoulder when the bike switches lanes to the left. Not sure where that bike/scooter went when the accident happened- it's not in the dashcam view.



21:05:14 - The dangerous overtaking maneuver has been started by the bus


21:05:15 - The biker has applied brakes, so has the bus. You can see both brake lights (or reflection) circled.



21:05:15 - in a split second, the biker starts an evasive manoeuvre to the right lane. However, one should be accelerating while going to the right lane and not braking- driving/riding 101. The braking could be attributed to the panic that the biker is now going through as he sees the front of the bus closing in on him.



21:05:16 - The bus now corrects its course from the hard shoulder, where it was almost going off the road. We could also say that the bus driver was trying to teach the biker a lesson.




21:05:16 - This is where it starts going wrong and this is exactly what the bus driver should have refrained from doing. While the bus is now well in the lane (and should have accelerated and gone ahead, it's still pointed towards the right lane AND braking. This could be intentional to teach the biker a lesson by forcing him off his lane. The biker is still braking- dangerous since there is a truck right behind him which cannot slow down like a bike can.

Not sure if the bus driver can argue that he's not driving a Volvo that has a precise steering, but an experienced driver should know how to make minor corrections to a Leyland (or whatever that bus was). We also don't know if the mystery 2 wheeler on the hard shoulder was in front of the bus, to the left of the bike.



21:05:18 - The disaster has now started and there is no stopping it. The Bus, truck and the bike are braking. The bus is nudging the biker further to the right but the biker has no space to go. This continues till the bike gets caught between the two heavy vehicles and then the inevitable happens.



21:05:18 - This is to show how much room there was on the left of the bus. While the unpaved part of the road has loose gravel (and probably the bus driver could argue that he didn't want the bus to go off the road in view of the safety of the bus and it's passengers), I doubt that would hold ground. Heavy vehicle experts, please comment!

Another argument could be that the mystery 2 wheeler in the screen grab from 21:05:05 was going slowly on the hard shoulder and the bus cut to the right to avoid hitting them. We don't know for sure.



I still remember when I was young, I tried to "correct" a KSTRC that was coming head on in my lane when our car was new. Eventually, I had to swallow my ego and go off the road and stop to let the bus pass and complete his overtaking move. Our car was just a month old and I didn't want to risk even a small scratch, but the way the KSRTC bus came head on was scary. From then onwards, I'd always brake and slow down the moment I see a KSRTC coming head on while overtaking other vehicles. I am not sure when their driving style would change.

All said and done, this is a stark reminder that once you take the driver's/rider's seat, leave your rage and ego at home. If you're in a fit of rage due to anything that might have happened in the day, take a cab/auto. Never try correcting other motorists with dangerous maneuvers.

[delix]

The time of the incident being late at 9pm and after driving for long hours at that point of time might have added to the frustration of the Ksrtc bus driver who can be clearly seen venting out his frustration on the poor motorcycle chap. This brings another sad incident to the lens. Saddened and disheartened to see the poor chaps losing their lives like these with no error of theirs. May their soul rest in peace.

[harimkd]

Originally Posted by som9729

What brand dashcam do you use?
The video quality is pretty good!!!

It is 700 mai 800 dash cam with rear camera. It says true 4K video and I think output is having very good quality even when it seen in big screen.No noise or lag in video and it is having good stabilization also.

Originally Posted by giri1.8

As long as they have strong union, no strict action can be taken.

In one of the chanel live program, the drivers union leader told that it is un acceptable for them to take action against the driver as it just an accident. He also told mechanical failure may be the culprit here and not driver.

Originally Posted by vandemanw

The kerala MVD and KSRTC make no sense to me at all.

KSRTC administration is least bothered about the accidents of their buses. They gives non practical timings to these buses which put pressure on drivers. Few days back seen a video of a blogger who travelled in Ksrtc minnal bus from tvm to ekm. Bus covered around 210 km in just 3 hours!!. Enroute it had entered in 3 bus stands, means it gone through inside cities. Even then it covered 210 km in 180 minutes where its maximum allowed speed limit in 2 lane road is 60 kmph and bus should have a speed governor as per rule which locked at 65 kmph. KSRTC knows this but deliberately gave a closed eye...

[Naetik30]

Best part is - the victims' taxes (road taxes, income tax, toll tax) will be used to pay the legal fees of the accused in this case. One of the very reasons, I have the least bit of value for any government servant (all of them).

Strict laws wont help. Make the accused pay. Financial loss is the only way to fix this problem. Only this would drive some sense with the govt servants (lords!!!) in our beloved country.

[Raghu M]

Such a disturbing incident. I really feel sorry for the bikers, can't imagine what their families are going through. The driver will be charged with negligent driving causing death. Not a big section, if the plaintiff's lawyer is strong, the case could hold up in the court of law. Or else, the insurance will take care of the case. Feel really bad at the value of life and the manner in which the bus driver drove is really negligent.

I strongly feel states like Kerala should get away with big buses. The roads are so narrow, even if someone steers a bus that size while doing 50 kmph, it will have a some roll. The driver of a vehicle of that size will obviously have an ego of that size too. The govt should seriously consider dismissing such people from service after the case is closed. It gives them a free hand if they go scot free (which would mostly be the result of this case).

[wildsdi5530]

Sideswiping 2-wheelers especially motorbikes is a very old technique learnt by all bus drivers. It used to happen in the 1980-90 when I was riding, happened to me once. Also seen everyday on Bengaluru roads, esp the Ring road. The buses just brush against the elbow or thigh and the 2-wheeler wobbles back into the lane. Also happens in traffic signals with 4- wheelers where they lightly touch your ORVM to make you give way. These are the games bus drivers play.

However seeing it at highway speeds and so aggressively is brutal. Fell sorry for the poor souls. But the law is very clear. Using a vehicle in a murder will make it a negligence and not a murder. The driver will go scott-free anywhere in India. Not just because of the powerful driver.

[krishnakumar]

Originally Posted by govindremesh

We do see another bike/scooter (mystery 2 wheeler) that's going to the far left of the road ahead of the truck on the left lane, which eventually goes on to the hard shoulder when the bike switches lanes to the left. Not sure where that bike/scooter went when the accident happened- it's not in the dashcam view.

We also don't know if the mystery 2 wheeler on the hard shoulder was in front of the bus, to the left of the bike.

I doubt if there is a mystery scooter at all. I do agree that in that particular frame the 2-wheeler looks nothing like a KTM and looks like a scooter of some sort but when the dashcam moves in front of the bus at the end and there is no sight of the 2 wheeler. I mean it would have to be a Hayabusa to have fled the scene like that.

I think it was the KTM itself which means the biker tried moving to the left lane, the bus wanted to overtake the bike but couldn't do so as there wasn't sufficient gap to the truck and had to wait for the KTM to do the maneuver. The KTM proceeds to overtake the truck from left but moves to the center and "brake tests" the bus as well.

The reason why I put brake test in quotes is that we really don't know if the bike was in fact brake testing the bus. It could be that the biker is new and getting used to the throttle response of a KTM. The bus however had enough and more space and a completely clear lane ahead to proceed and accomplish his "task" of arriving somewhere 5 seconds earlier than he would have.

However, what did get in the way between that bus and a clear road ahead was the driver's ego. He had to teach the biker a lesson. I hope he learnt a lesson himself and also this serves as a lesson to many other drivers as well.

For people who have not been to Kerala roads yet. Please. If you see a KSRTC, just give way. It's a lesson all Malayalees learn as a child. And this is applicable whether you're on foot or driving another bus yourself. It really isn't worth it.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by krishnakumar

.Please. If you see a KSRTC, just give way. It's a lesson all Malayalees learn as a child. And this is applicable whether you're on foot or driving another bus yourself. It really isn't worth it.

The situation of a KSRTC and a private limited stop bus in competition make the roads more dangerous and scaring. Both resort to overtaking with gay abandon and in the process kick out cars & bikes off the road.
I wonder as to why the authorities concerned are tight lipped?

[anand.shankar]

I'm confused why the bike continued braking even after moving into the right lane unless they were trying to get into a conversation with the driver. Being a KTM or any bike, there was sufficient time to accelerate away.

Also, I completely disagree with some opinions here stating the Driver only intended to scare them not kill, well one doesn't try such stunts when driving a Behemoth with questionable handling and braking abilities.

Unions be damned, I hope an example is made out of this, and the driver gets maximum punishment permissible by law. The attitude of KSRTC and Private bus drivers in KL simply make my blood boil!

[anumod]

Originally Posted by tharian

I wouldn't blame the truck driver. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. If he sticks to the left lane, he has to keep worrying about incidents like these all the time because of people joining onto the road without looking. And even if he was on the left lane, the exact same thing could have happened on his right side.

Originally Posted by harimkd

But in this particular incident, technically he did no mistake. He was overtaking a slow moving lorry from right lane and it is allowed as per rule. After that he could have moved left, but he can't do it at once. By the time the bike and bus entered the left lane which he can claim as the reason for keeping in right track. A multi axle truck can't do easy manuaer between lanes so it can be understand..
But he might have been in same track for a long time which was nirmal for truckers. Police and MVD never take any action against such trucks..

Fair point, I wasn't technically blaming the truck driver here. I was making a general statement that the slow moving vehicles should always be on the left most lane. That reduces the risk of an accident for a vehicle that is overtaking.