It could have been a scene out of a Hollywood racing action flick, except, it was uncontrolled, reckless driving on real roads, and lives of unwilling participants were at risk.
In a video which has since gone viral online, two privately-owned passenger buses can be seen racing each other in a reckless manner, endangering the lives of those inside the bus and on the highway.
The incident is said to have happened on the Pollachi-Coimbatore highway, and was uploaded by a person on Facebook. According to reports, the people of Pollachi petitioned the district authorities to take action against the two private transport companies.
Speaking to The News Minute, Ramya Bharathi, Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore, said, “The buses have been detained. The two drivers have been identified and brought to the police station, they will be remanded shortly. The owners of the two companies also have been summoned. We have instructed the RTO to cancel the licenses of both the drivers. Today, we will keeping an intensive check of the vehicles on Pollachi-Coimbatore road and Udumalpet road, we will detaining the vehicles which are involved in rash driving.”
The incident happened two days ago. The two buses which have been identified are Ayyappa Bus Service (ABS) and Sree Velavan Transport (SVT). The two drivers are V Nagaraj from ABS and Chakaravarthy Palani from SVT.
The Pollachi-Coimbatore highway is notorious for such driving. At the moment, road widening works are happening on the highway, due to which the road is narrower than usual, with debris on both sides of the road. In spite of this, private buses often drive recklessly and compete against each other.
According to sources in the transport department in Pollachi, action has been initiated against the two drivers and the district Sub-Collector Gayathri Krishnan is also looking into the issue.
This is however not the first time such instances have come to light, here is a video from 2015.