The tragic accident on Friday evening on the Valparai ghat road near Pollachi, which claimed the lives of nine members of a school teachers’ excursion group from Pang in Malappuram, has drawn attention to the inadequate training provided to young drivers in handling steep ghat roads with varying gradients.
Although it is too early to draw conclusions, road safety experts have expressed concerns about the driving judgment and control of Mohammed Fasith, a 21-year-old from Chunoor near Kottakkal, who was at the wheel when the 16-seater Tempo Traveller plunged nearly 500 metres off the 13th hairpin bend on the Valparai ghat road.
The van came to rest near the ninth hairpin bend, reduced to a mangled wreck resembling a heap of scrap metal. “It appears the driver may have overlooked a fundamental principle of ghat driving: steep elevations significantly amplify the effects of gravity, demanding heightened caution and control at every turn,” said former P.M. Mohammed Najeeb, Deputy Transport Commissioner whose doctoral research focussed on driver psychology.
Dr. Najeeb said that driving on ghat roads, or operating vehicles on steep slopes, should be made a mandatory part of driving training. “Most of us drive on plains where the tyres absorb about 35 per cent of the energy generated by combustion. But on ghat roads, there is an invisible but powerful force constantly pulling the vehicle downhill. Drivers need to be made fully aware of this,” he said.
