The tragic bus accident at Vadakkanchery has spread gloom across Kerala. Nine persons including 5 children, who were part of a school trip, died in the accident. The tragedy of this accident is accentuated by the fact that it could have been avoided if laws were followed.

A tourist bus carrying an excited group of 42 children and five teachers on their school trip to Ooty, rammed into the back of a KSRTC bus and fell into a swamp. The tourist bus hit the KSRTC bus while trying to overtake a car. The primary reason for the accident was overspeeding by the driver of the tourist bus. Without a speed-governor buses like these are not allowed fitness certificates. This bus too had a speed-governor but it was disconnected, otherwise, it cannot travel at a high speed of 97.2 km/hour. Those who disconnected the speed-governor and those who gave the order to do it are the main culprits in this accident.

Speed-governors were made compulsory after studies showed that overspeeding was the main reason for accidents. This accident shows that inspections on roads are scarce and the mindset of people to do anything on public roads. There are rules given by the education department that must be followed by school authorities when they take students on school trips. One of the rules is to inform the government authorities about the trip. This rule is seldom followed by anyone.

The tourism department has also given a guideline that buses on the list of tour operators must only be hired for the trip. Most of the school authorities are not even aware of such guidelines. From this incident, it is clear that most of these instructions and guidelines are not followed.

It’s a piece of common advice given by older people to avoid traveling at night. The Vadakkanchery accident occurred after midnight. A rule must be implemented that when a school trip is planned the school management must first take permission from the education department. If this permission is found not to be taken during police checking on the way then the vehicle must not be allowed to go.

The trip must be planned in such a way that the destination is reached by 10 pm. Only if we take extra caution can we avoid accidents like this in the future.

Preliminary investigation has revealed that this tourist bus has violated every law. It was found that the bus had a deafening horn and luxury lighting. There are also reports that the tourist bus involved in the accident at Vadakkanchery was on the blacklist of the transport department for violating every law. This must be investigated properly and those found guilty must be punished immediately.

It is good that the High Court has intervened in this issue. The President, Prime Minister, and Chief Minister have expressed grief at the shocking news of the accident.

The Prime Minister has announced Rs.5 lakh for the families of those who died and Rs.50,000 for those who are injured. The grief of the parents who lost their children cannot be described in words. The families of all the nine persons who died in the accident will carry the painful memories of the accident for a lifetime.

We too share in the deep sorrow of all those grieving families.