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That L&T bypass stretch is a nightmare, more so in the night. I am a long term user of that stretch, atleast once in two months and have been doing it for more than a decade now. The road has steep drops on both sides with no embankments in many places. Its worse specially near the Podanur ROR bridge. To top it you have a lot of Schumacher(s) racing down at you with no regard for oncoming traffic. The worst time to cross it is during twilight when the lighting is poor and between 9PM and midnight when you have an onslaught of Volvo buses bearing down on you, lit to kingdom come and no regards for fellow road users. 14 years on am still trying to get used to that stretch. The only thing I have seen change is the increase in toll fee, I don't even know what am paying toll for in that stretch (pun intended)...

Do Kerala roads have more CCTV and dashcam-equipped cars, or do a disproportionate number of Kerala drivers not care about life and limb when driving?

I've lost count of the number of times where I faced similar situations. As you rightly said, it always pays to slow down or even stop after giving the maniac as much room as possible.

Years ago, I had a very close shave in the night on a two lane KL highway where a TN SRTC bus completed an overtaking maneuver at breakneck speed, inches away from my front bumper. This is after me slowing down, moving to the farthest left possible and almost coming to a stop after seeing the idiot coming right at me. Those were the days I didn't have the dashcam. Had it been today, I would've ensured he faced the music, big time.

Sadly, on our roads one has to encounter such incidents almost every other day.

Absolutely agree with your point and have encountered this many times on the Nilambur-majeri stretch. We did have this captured on the Venue's dashcam but didn't want to view it again during our trip back as it had already sent enough chills down the spine in real-time and replaying it may have led to a sleepless night after a long drive lol:

By the time I accessed it a couple of days ago, it had been overwritten.

The only drive where we get to laugh back at these erratic drivers is the Thamassery ghat section, where cars are able to zoom past at a decent pace whereas these guys are gasping for breath with all their overtaking antics being of no use.

I have driven in UP (mostly Kanpur and some times to Lucknow) and Kerala (extensively Kozhikode-Wayanad etc to TVM). Overall I think the driving is better in Kerala (which is not saying much) but I think I have felt more at risk in kerala roads than UP

1. Kanpur City because of the traffic congestion is relatively safer (slower speeds). While
you might get into some sort of accident, the slower speeds make things safer.

2. The terrain is mostly flat and rains are not such a problem in UP as opposed to kerala

3. Country roads in kerala are lot narrower than in UP with almost no shoulder area which means life of a pedestrian here is really painful

3. Private and KSRTC busses are just crazy in kerala (a crazy as the numbering of this list)

Overall I have found better traffic enforcement in kerala, less wrong side driving and also people mostly dim their lights at least when flashed. All these are pretty problematic in UP. As some taxi driver aptly compared UPs traffic situation vis-a-vis Rajasthan (trip to Bharatpur). "Saab Rajasthan ka traffic kharab hai, wahan red light pe rukna padta hai"
(The traffic situation in Rajasthan is bad, you need to stop at red lights)

Kerala is very much densely populated and you dont typically see "villages" unless you move very deep. Due to people being spread around more, there are more shops to cater to them ( usually small stationary and such shops) and these establishments usually have CCTVs installed. Also, CCTV's are common here in many households, though I dont think it is the same with dashcams.

Due to the dense population, the roads have a lot of curves and is narrow, while at the same time having good tarmac which enables good speed. I belive this is one of the main reasons for so much of accidents.

That said, having driven through different parts of the county, I would say there is much more traffic sense here, and definitely a lot less wrong side driving. Traffic enforcement is also much stricter here. You cannot just get out of a challan with Rs.50 or 100 bribe. Fines will be imposed in most cases.

I have seen several such careless incidents in Kerala. BHPians of Kerala have to share their thoughts on the driving behavior of Kerala, do drivers don't care about their life and families at home?

I'm from Hyderabad, usually compared to other areas of two Telugu states people on the road (around 60% of commuters) consider the surroundings and respect people when on the road.

Kerala has a fairly functional community policing system called Janamaithri (https://keralapolice.gov.in/page/janamaithri-suraksha). Among the initiatives undertaken by this project is one that encourages residences and small businesses to invest in CCTV cameras+DVRs (the cops even tell you where to install and facing which way). I think there is a much higher penetration of such recording devices among the shops, factories, offices and homes here.

Some interesting charts from the MORTH website regarding accidents.

In total number of accidents (2022) Kerala is at #3 behind Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradhesh.

In number of accidents on highways Kerala is at #2.

But in number of fatalities due to accidents on highways, Kerala is not even in the top 10!

And in terms of accident severity (deaths per 100 accidents), Kerala is at one of the lowest rates of 9.8.

My presumption is that our roads are still very narrow and couple that with vehicular density and almost non stop interconnected towns, accidents are but inevitable :(

But again, I assume thanks to said non-stop interconnected towns, emergency access is also very good which could be why fatalities are so less as compared to other states.

Link to the pdf:
https://morth.nic.in/road-accident-in-india

Adding to the above discussions about state and private buses in Kerala, one significant thing to note is the meek horn of KeSRTC buses. Hearing them honk one would think that a moped is following us, only to realise a behemoth barreling up behind.

Both and more- The state has a good network of CCTVs , owning a car and driving it fast is a matter of pride, vehicle density is high and so are driver egos, roads are narrow, but (of late) of good quality, which encourages speeding.

Nice analysis, it's spot on. I think given the higher literacy rate - Kerala is also one of the rare states where I have seen people consciously making an effort to let ambulances pass, even when there's a traffic jam.

I'm not sure of other states, as I have only driven just a bit in TN and KA, not to an extend to which I would be comfortable with making a personal opinion. But driving in Kerala is a bit tiresome. Especially some of the yellow plates in Kerala are driven by lunatics.

MVD and Police are strict when it comes to things like luggage carriers and etc, but road manners??..meh!

Some days back on my drive from Thrissur to Kochi, A truck overtaking another truck which is on the left track, another car in front of me, then a triber, belonging to a company called Steward, if i read it right, comes flying from my right side and just slams into the small space between myself and the car in front of me. I had to brake hard and swerve towards the median and it was a miracle that he did not hit my front bumper, there was a KSRTC behind me, I was thankful that the bus also could brake.

Not to generalise, but most of the yellow plated cars or company owned cars in Kerala are driven like they are on a matter of national emergency. I always keep an eye behind me, If at all I see someone hurtling down my track, I give them space, even when am on the left lane. All KSRTC and Private buses are given a wide berth and yet a bullet scraped my front bumper while i was waiting for the signal as the guy on the bike had to somehow get to the front of the queue. :Frustrati

I recently travelled to Chennai from Guruvayur via the Palakkad-Coimbatore-Salem-Ulundurpet route. I havent travelled much by car in Kerala frequently.

Armed with all the experiences of driving in Kerala from here and somewhere else, I was very watchful on the 2 lane roads and mindful of the speed cameras as well. Surprisingly, I faced absolutely no issues there.

During the return trip we were on the decently wide side road in Coimbatore town that merges with the Coimbatore/Salem NH and the Government bus ahead gave a hand signal to pass.
I was thinking what a nice guy he was and accelerated for the overtake.
Just when we were accelerating past the rear I sensed the front tyre of the bus coming into the right lane and did an all-out urgent braking, only to find that a stupid TD car from the roadside car dealership just came perpendicular to the bus and encroached some of the left lane intending to take right. I just gestured to him on the move and left.
I was in his blindspot and he was in my blindspot and the nice :) bus driver was also caught unawares and could not hand signal me to stop when he was manoeuvring to the right to avoid the TD car.

All in all, a close shave. The learning is, even if you get a signal to pass and your lane is seemingly clear, still be very aware of the direction of the vehicle on your shoulder(s) whenever you overtake.

We do have our share of reckless drivers here. The local state transport (KSRTC) and private buses are the major contributors. From what I see, 99.9% of private bus drivers, atleast in Kochi are rashly driven. Some of the Ape autos join the fun as well.
Generally private vehicles are well driven but u take the highways, you may find some irritated drivers. The small, traffic congested highways do test their patience.

Totally agree. Very rarely we get a chance to do highway speeds here but the topper, which is UP you find the largest network of highways/expressways. So the results are convincing.

I am not from Kerala but on way back from my first ever road trip to Kerala. I had to drive through 9 states to reach Kerala, and I am of the opinion that KL drivers (private cars) are one of the best drivers compared to other states. We hardly drove through any 4-laned NH in the state. The 2-laned highways were ease to drive on, what surprised me was - overtaking, I never had to honk or flash or fight with the car ahead to give me space to overtake! I have hardly seen drivers so alert and keeping an eye on RVMs. Drivers would just either slow down or move towards the edge of the road. I observed the same while being overtaken, no honking, no flashing, just patiently waiting for me to give them way.

I also got a taste of infamous roadways buses, this guy coming from the opposite direction taking the non-existent gap and pushing me off the road. I wasn't surprised at all, thanks to their popularity on the forum. :D

The worst state I would rate as far as driver etiquette goes in the south-west region is KA. Horrible drivers! :Frustrati