A young woman was killed and her husband and their two children suffered injuries when a speeding private bus knocked them down from a scooter they were travelling on at Pooladikkunnu, near here, on the Kuttiadi-Kozhikode Road on Sunday afternoon.
Maya, 26, wife of Kattilparamba Prashobh, is the latest casualty of speeding in the district even as rigorous measures are being taken by the Motor Vehicles Department to check traffic rule violations, which includes heavy vehicles running without speed governors.
Incidentally, it was conformed by Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Rajiv Puthalath that the bus involved in the accident was fitted with a speed governor, which was “noticeably tampered with,” giving fresh headache to the traffic authorities, who were claiming high percentage of compliance among heavy vehicles to the rule in the district.
Mr. Prashobh, 30, his children Abhishek, 7, and Alekha, 1.5, who suffered minor injuries in the accident, are undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital here. The accident took place around 3 p.m. A large number of people, who assembled at the accident spot, shifted the victims to the hospital and destroyed the bus partially in anger even as the bus driver inconspicuously escaped the scene. Ms. Maya, who was riding pillion, died on the spot, people who witnessed the accident said. The scooter they were travelling on was destroyed completely. Both the scooter and the bus were moving in the same direction and the bus, losing control after a risky manoeuvring, hit the two-wheeler, said witnesses.
The police had a tough time controlling the irate mob, who insisted that they wouldn’t allow shifting of the vehicle from the spot unless and until the RTO arrived at the spot. The RTO, who reached the spot along with a few other officers, soon inspected the bus and confirmed that the vehicle was having a speed governor, which was seriously tampered with. He later told The Hindu that directions had been given to cancel the permit and fitness certificate of the bus.
The city traffic police have registered a case against the driver under section 304 (for culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
