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Four men who were on their morning walk were hit by a truck, which then sped away. According to the latest reports, 3 of the victims lost their lives. The truck driver later surrendered at the police station with his truck.

The truck was in its lane, but appears to be speeding. However, the road was unlit and the victims were walking on the road. A car that passed a few seconds before the truck narrowly avoided hitting the group.

CCTV footage starting at around 00:55:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RKWtqfmSKQ

RIP. Never walk with one's back to traffic. Great albeit sad example to drive home this point.

Not a safe road to do morning walk for sure. There was hardly any shoulder and they were walking bang in the middle of a unlit, narrow and busy road. And the cardinal mistake of walking along wrong side facing the opposite side of oncoming traffic.

RIP.

Exactly. And the worst part is when the pedestrian jumps onto the lane/road to pass an obstacle or any other pedestrian since the pedestrian lane isn't always perfect (you have trees, debris and the worst one - makeshift vendors). Since their back is to the traffic, they wont notice this. Happens with cyclists too. Very dangerous.

It would help if pre-dawn and post-dusk walkers wear reflective apparel or footwear.

Also, not a good idea to walk 4 abreast on such narrow road. If they walked one behind the other this tragedy may have been avoided.

I see this even on NH66 between Mangalore and Udupi, I dont know whats the fascination of walking on highway early mornings when there is a perfectly good beach road which runs parallel to the highway. Atleast , one should wear a Hi-Vis jacket if one wants to walk on the highway. Feel very sorry for the group of friends.

I see this day in day out by cyclists across cities (Bombay, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, etc.) - there's this weird fascination to ride in parallel; especially seen in groups doing leisurely slower rides, happily chatting with each other.

This danger is not only applicable during the night (/early morning) but also during day time, especially when a full lane (or more) gets averdently blocked by the bunch of cyclists, and there will be that one idiot in a car/bike who feels its his lane and might hit/scrape one or more of the cyclists.

Lighting, or rather lack of it, played a big role as well. As StarrySky mentioned, the car noticed the group mainly because it was flashing and using high beam.
On the other hand, the lorry was on low beam (Maybe for the oncoming bike) and the light beam throw lit the group of people way too late.

I agree that one should follow the rule and walk facing the traffic --- but should then take care because the wrong-side bikers won't think about the pedestrian in front walking around an obstruction.

As a pedestrian, I try to look behind whenever stepping out, whatever the traffic flow, and even if I think there isn't any traffic!
It would be sensible. Carrying a torch is a good idea too.
It's madness on any road! Selfish too. There are bad drivers, and there are certainly bad pedestrians. Alone, or in a group, add those that walk in the road when there is a perfectly good pavement.

Pedestrians on Kerala's narrow roads are highly vulnerable. The road boundaries touch private property walls giving next to no space for pedestrians, who therefore step onto the road.

Unfortunate. It is unsafe practice walking like that. I am an early morning runner and always advocate the following:

1) Wear Reflective Clothing, be it be summers or winters. Even your shoes should have reflective patches.
2) When in a group, don't walk/run side-to-side on public roads. Always make an Indian file.
3) Always face incoming traffic. It would mean walking/running on the "wrong" side of the road. In the absence of a functional pavement (almost everywhere in India is like that), you should be able to see the vehicles coming bang opposite you.

Really tragic. What's shocking for me is just how narrow that road is. Is that some kind of highway? I would be afraid of driving on that road at that hour, forget walking. And unfortunately they were walking bang in the middle of the road because there is no shoulder, no space around the road. If one were to get a flat tyre on this road, where would they halt?

Truck is not at fault at all, these people are walking covering an entire lane, at night, facing the wrong side, and not wearing any safety vest. Also truck doesn’t appear to be speeding, the car before it maybe.

Fully agree with you. I am always amazed at people talking about driving at speeds way in excess of 100 as if it were normal. Just like you, I always drive at 70 to maximum 90 on normal major divided inter state highways and rarely at 90 to 100 on empty modern access controlled highways. I just don't feel comfortable going over 90kmph on any road in India. Apart from animals, there is the menace of wrong side driving even on major highways. In addition, any lane can simply vanish without warning due to a narrowing of the road and there are debris and blockages left in lanes even on tolled access controlled expressways.