Tomichan Matheikal's blog

From The Hindu Whenever a policeman waves my car down, a flicker of indignation rises in me, tinged with a trace of ironic amusement. I was taking a shortcut yesterday morning when a constable stopped my car right in front of a big ditch on a narrow rural road. It was a strategic point: no one could speed away ignoring the police because of the rainwater-filled ditch that spanned the entire width of the road ahead. Another constable came with a breathalyser and asked me to blow into it which I did with a smirk that was intended to convey my indignation. First of all, it was too early in the day for any normal person to be drunk. Secondly, they chose a place which revealed in all its gruesome ugliness that the government didn’t give a f*#k to the safety or wellness of the citizens, travellers in this case. Kerala is a state where an average of over 130 road accidents take place every day. 48,841 accidents occurred on Kerala’s roads in the year of 2024, according to the website of...

  Driving in Kerala is scary. Walking on the road is deadlier. Both can kill you sooner than any other cause. Look at statistics. Covid kept the accident numbers low in 2020. Lockdowns kept people at home. As soon as people were given liberty to drive around, they started driving people to their death. Nearly 55,000 accidents in 2023! That is 150 accidents a day!  Two-wheelers cause most accidents. Youngsters form the lion's share of the victims. Nearly two-thirds of the victims are in the age group of 18 to 45.  My house is situated on a road that is designated as state highway. Actually the road's construction was never completed due to the kind of politics Kerala usually had and hence the highway suddenly ends in the middle of nowhere. Hence the traffic isn't much. But youngsters come from God-knows-where on their roaring bikes which fly on the roads. The speed and the noise, both together can be murderous. A lot of people die  before reaching the age of 60 in thi...