Life S. resident of Churalmalaki in Wayanad. Shruti was put to the test when she lost nine members of her family in a devastating landslide earlier on July 30 this year. A month after she lost her immediate family members, her fiance Jensen, who stood by her side during the devastating tragedy, was killed in a road accident at Vellaramkunnu near Kalpeta in Wayanad on September 12. .
The van they were traveling in collided with a private bus at Vellaramkunnu. Jensen, who was behind the wheel at the time of the crash, died from his injuries two days later. On both occasions, Shruti learns of the shocking losses in her life on rainy mornings. “I felt a large part of the sky above my head fall to the ground,” she says.
He felt alone and his heart sank. “Life has been so cruel to me. I lost Jenson after a devastating natural disaster that killed my parents,” she says. But life must go on and she struggles to get her life back on track by taking a clerk job in the state revenue department offered by the Kerala government.
The roads of Kerala have become a killing ground. And survivors of these accidents are either crippled or traumatized for life.
Deadly statistics
Every year, around 4,000 lives are lost on Kerala’s roads and hundreds are injured, according to data from the State Crime Records Bureau.
Recently, six students of Government Medical College, Alappuzha met a tragic end on the rainy night of December 2 when they collided with a hired car belonging to the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) at Kalarkode in Alappuzha.
A car carrying 11 MBBS first year students collided with a bus while going to see a movie in Alappuzha city. Five of them died on the spot and the sixth died after treatment. A preliminary investigation by the Kerala Motor Vehicles Department has found reckless driving to be the main cause of the accident.
A night to forget
Vinay Chandran (name changed), a native of Viyur, an IT professional at a US-based company in Hyderabad, was in heavy rain when he boarded an inter-state bus from Thrissur to Hyderabad after his wedding in 2018.
As the National Highway approached the treacherous hilly terrain of Kuthiran along with the traffic regulations imposed in the area along with the six road work sections, vehicles were moving slowly through the main carriageway. – Lane Highway Tunnel Project in Thrissur District.
While the bus was passing through a narrow road, a truck coming down the slope left the track and hit the bus.
“I was about to alert the speeding truck when I hit the woman sitting next to me, when the speeding bus hit me,” recalls the young professional with a shudder. The screams of terrified passengers filled the air.
An ambulance siren broke the silence of the night. It was dark all around. It was raining continuously as people volunteered to rescue travelers from the wreckage.
When Vinay Chandran regained consciousness, he was in a hospital bed with the lower half of his body covered.
A terrible pain shot through him as he tried to move his limbs. The doctors had to amputate his right leg which was broken in the accident to save his life. However, Vinay Chandran says he is lucky to be alive.
If the statistics maintained by the State Crime Records Bureau are any indication, Kerala’s roads are becoming death traps.
As of October this year, 3,168 people have died in 40,821 road accidents in Kerala. In 2023, the number of deaths in 48,091 accidents was 4,080, while in 2022, 4,317 people died in 43,910 accidents.
The COVID-19-induced lockdown saw the number of accidents and deaths drop to 3,429 and 2,979 deaths in 2021 and 2020, respectively. However, in 2018, 40,303 people died in 40,081 accidents and in 2019, 4,440 people died in 41,111 accidents.
Contributing factors
Siju Stanley, president of the Society for Emergency Medicine India, said road accidents in the state range from the increase in the number of vehicles to poor road design, speeding, poor road conditions and drugs. Said that there is abuse. .
Vehicles with poor safety ratings and reckless driving at night are also contributing to the alarming incidents. Passengers in vehicles with poor safety ratings are often the victims, he says.
Another reason is that people have started traveling at night to save time and avoid daytime traffic. According to the Kerala Police, 60% of deaths occur in night-time accidents, although only 15% of accidents occur at night.
The speed of vehicles is higher at night. This has also increased the number of deaths. This is evident when one considers the accident rate among pilgrims, especially Sabarimala pilgrims, says Mr. Stanley.
An official of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Department said the chances of an accident are high when a tired devotee who queues for hours for darshan drives.
Breath analysis data of KSRTC bus drivers on duty between July 21, 2021 and June 14, 2024 revealed that 319 people, including drivers and conductors, came on duty under the influence of alcohol, killing hundreds. At risk that forced the state public utility to take disciplinary action against them.
On November 26, a lorry loaded with wood ran over a group of people sleeping on a ‘closed road’ in Thrissur, killing five and injuring seven.
Later, the driver and the cleaner who were at the wheel at the time of the accident were found to be drunk.
The golden hour
Kerala University neurosurgeon and former vice-chancellor B. Ekbal says that a large number of accident victims succumb to their injuries in the golden hour of an hour after the accident.
Timely medical intervention is crucial to save lives. Delays in first aid and getting victims to hospital are proving fatal, he says.
A collaborative approach involving the health department, private hospitals, motor vehicle department, traffic police, professional organizations and other relevant bodies is important to achieve sustainable improvements in reducing road accident deaths, said Dr. Ekbal says.
An analysis of 2023 accident data by the National Transport Planning and Research Center (NATPAC) shows that 50% of road accidents involve two-wheelers, followed by cars/SUVs (19%) and pedestrians (12%).
Vulnerable road users are mainly two-wheelers, pedestrians, cyclists and three-wheelers, who contribute to 69% of road accident victims.
NATPAC director Samson Mathew notes that the geometry (gradient, turns, visibility, and width) standards of Kerala roads are poor due to flawed designs and non-availability of land for improvements on key stretches.
Along with Kerala’s nearly six-month long rainy season, this worsens road conditions, including hydroplaning, a phenomenon where a thin layer of water accumulates between the tires and the road surface on wet roads, making it difficult. To effectively control or stop a vehicle, resulting in the vehicle colliding or overturning.
Inexperienced drivers
Inexperienced drivers make things worse on the road. The state should urgently revise the driving test to address the shortcomings in the current form of the driving test and scrap old and unsafe vehicles, says Mr Mathew.
According to Kerala Transport Commissioner CH Nagaraju, inadequate facilities for training in safe driving techniques contribute to the high number of road accidents in Kerala. Driving tests also need to be upgraded to test applicants’ defensive driving skills, he says.
“Road conditions and weather keep changing at different places and at different times. We cannot always drive at 60 km per hour in all places and in all conditions. The driver must adjust his driving speed. Most of the accidents happen when the driver does not measure the speed of the vehicle properly. Drivers can neither detect the speed of their vehicle nor the speed of other vehicles around them,’ he says.
Vinayachandran, who lost his leg, got married and returned to a normal life after one and a half years of the accident.
Left scarred by accidents and natural disasters, Shruti is in the process of rebuilding her life. But that is not the case for everyone.
published – December 19, 2024 at 11:50 am IST