A pedestrian was killed on Tuesday after a speeding private bus hit the parapet wall of the Hosur Road Elevated Tollway, uprooting an electric pole that hit the victim. However, the 15 bus passengers escaped with minor bruises in the accident, which raised questions on speed control on the flyover.
Around 7:40 pm, Sriji, driver of the Thiruvananthapuram-bound sleeper coach of SRM Travels, took the elevated tollway to bypass the traffic underneath. An SUV driver, who was right behind the bus, recalled the action that unfurled in the next few minutes. “The bus overtook me at high speed, and went past another bus. But in the process of overtaking another motorcycle, the bus swerved to the right and scraped past the parapet before screeching to a halt,” he told Deccan Herald.
In the process, the bus hit an electric pole which broke due to the impact and fell several feet down on the road underneath. The pole hit 20-year-old Varadarajulu, who was waiting for a bus. Grievously injured, he was rushed to Blossom Hospital where he was declared brought dead, the police said.
Narayanan Nair, one of the injured passengers, was preparing to sleep on the upper berth of the bus when he was rudely shaken. Jolted, he fell to the floor. “There was a loud noise and the bus shook with great force. I realised then that many others had also fallen and there was an accident.” The injured passengers were treated at a nearby hospital.