Even as the Motor Vehicles department (MVD) and the police are yet to finalise their probe report on the accident involving a KSRTC Garuda Scania bus that fatally rammed two motorbike riders and a parked KSRTC bus at Chakkaraparambu on the Edappally-Aroor bypass on Friday, the Garuda bus driver has reportedly cited ‘brake failure’ as a probable reason for the accident.
He told the police that the brake system did not respond as expected, which led to the bus ramming the bike and the parked bus from behind, said a police officer who was part of the team that conducted a preliminary probe into the accident. Technical personnel, including those from the MVD, are expected to verify the claim and report back to the police, he added.
Another police officer who is part of the team said the MVD was expected to submit its probe report in a few days. “The driver had apparently boarded the bus from Kozhikode at 2 a.m. It is likely that he turned drowsy, while the early morning showers could have led to hydroplaning [a situation in which a fast-going vehicle’s tyres have limited contact with the road when riding over a thin surface of water, resulting in sudden loss of control],” said the officer.
Dysfunctional lights
While expressing concern at most KSRTC buses having dysfunctional brake, indicator and parking lights, and small, inferior-quality mirrors and windshield wipers, MVD officials said speeding, relatively low visibility after it rained, and the slippery road surface could have led to the accident. “It also has to be seen whether the Garuda bus was tailgating [being driven too close to vehicles in front] other vehicles in the NH corridor, which the MVD has repeatedly red-flagged.”
“We are in the process of retrieving data in the hard disc of the CCTV system in the Garuda bus. This could shed light on how the accident occurred. Its monitor was damaged in the accident,” said a senior KSRTC official.
A KSRTC bus driver said on condition of anonymity that the driver’s ‘brake fail’ claim had to be verified since the bus would have stopped at innumerable signal junctions and other stops since it began its trip from Mookambika. “However, it can be gauged from the spree of recent accidents that most KSRTC buses are ill-maintained, thanks to lack of proper auditing and quality control mechanism. Even the quality of headlights is low,” he said.
