A Negligent Volvo Bus Driver Smashed My ORVM

[AR Ram]

Hi guys,

Today I took may car to Vision Skoda (SASC), Thrissur for the routine service. The work was completed to my satisfaction as usual and I took delivery at 5 pm. After 5 kms from the service station at Mannuthy Junction the traffic was blocked, and I also stopped the car and waiting for the traffic to get cleared. Meantime a Volvo bus attached to Kallada Travels came on left side where there was small gap and smashed my left side door mirror. I immediately got down and stopped the bus pulled the driver outside. We started fighting to each other and like a fool he was telling that its my mistake. I immediately called the cops and my Skoda service people. But due the traffic jam the cops couldn't reach at the spot, but 5 people came from the service station in two cars.

By the time the driver said, "you do whatever you want" and took reverse and sped away. Meanwhile a person from their booking office also came and started arguing with me and told me what exactly the driver said in an arrogant way.

Then I decided to lodge a complaint as hit and run case. I went to the Police station with the people from Skoda and given the complaint, and they assured all the help. They said they will keep the FIR copy ready and I can collect on Tuesday, that I require to make a claim from Insurance. They said they will take action against the bus driver also.

I got a rough estimate from Skoda that the complete mirror assembly will cost around Rs 16000/- with painting however yet to confirm it as the office was closed already and the prices are available only on Skoda online price list. But till the end of all the procedures they were with me for almost three hours which was totally a moral support to me at that point of time which I can never forget. Really that was an outstanding service even after their working hours. After reaching home all of them called me and confirmed that I reached safely.

Luckily no damage to the body.

This is another example of a negligent driver. During the arguments few of the passengers also came down and supporting the driver just because they want to reach their destination fast; none of them is bothered how they are safe in these kind of driver's hands.

And for them these may be a routine and daily affair.

Few of the pictures taken from the spot, and its clearly visible that the bus driver hit my ORVM from the back and it was smashed and opened to the front.

 

[roman]

Re: A negligent Volvo driver smashed my ORVM

your experience is shared by many road user's of kerala.

these drivers make the highways of kerala very unsafe all they care is to reach their destination in time.i have travelled at night from bangalore to kollam and these buses of private travel agencies run in a dangerous and reckless manner they drive with absolute disregard for other's lives.

i hope kerala's new transport commissioner m.r Rishiraj Singh cancels the licences of such drivers who pose a grave threat to public safety and gets involved in accidents due to their rash driving

 

[pravin1987]

schocked to see this kind of behaviour. these kind of drivers should be taught a lesson. if i were in your situation, i would have reacted hard. you should thank god that you have been saved and no major hits on the car..imagine this bus hitting the car from behind.

 

[patkar_a]

Bad luck buddy.That's totally pathetic,this volvo driver must be punished,you have done right thing bye filing a police complaint.
In photo he was so near,he would have touched the body.

 

[Mathew]

Sorry to hear your accident. I can understand your feelings.

I too passed the same situation some time back while traveling from Ernakulam to Pathanamthitta. Me on left front passenger seat, and the driver doing his job. The driver was trying to overtake a Lorry. For some time the Lorry, and my vehicle were parallel. Then all of a sudden the Lorry, which on left side of my vehicle took a slight jump to right. I was watching, and given signal to the driver. No use, in front of me the left mirror broke down.

My driver also made the mistake . He could not judge the gap between two vehicles. He was ignorant about the size of the mirror. My vehicle got full insurance, and the service center quoted 17000 RS for the glass assembly. The mirror comes as a single unit. Toyota Kottayam service center informed that, they do not have the mirror assembly in stock. Need 2-3 days to reach at their service center. The insurance guy also misguided me with the no claim bonus(NCB).

That was my first experience. I was on a short vacation, no patience to keep the vehicle in their garage for next 2-3days and finally settled to pay from my side.

My suggestion is to get it fixed from the insurance.

 

[Deceptron]

Sorry to hear this, mate.
It is waste to throw words and get hit with the same. We can't really fight with these lame drivers. I know how it feels like when someone stab right in your heart, cause i faced a similar situation. But that's not gonna bring anything back. They are ready to strip & dance nude on the road and face anything, but we have other important jobs in life to take care. So, I would directly proceed with the claim process.

And since its a transport vehicle. Whatever mistake the driver makes, The passengers will support him ( you know the reason ).

Afterall, nobody is doing this on purpose. It is all an accident. I'm pretty sure the driver didn't want this to happen as well. But his mistake, not checking before making a move.

Best regards,
Deceptron.

 

[AR Ram]

your experience is shared by many road user's of kerala.

these drivers make the highways of kerala very unsafe all they care is to reach their destination in time.i have travelled at night from bangalore to kollam and these buses of private travel agencies run in a dangerous and reckless manner they drive with absolute disregard for other's lives.

i hope kerala's new transport commissioner m.r Rishiraj Singh cancels the licences of such drivers who pose a grave threat to public safety and gets involved in accidents due to their rash driving

Thank you roman, they are very reckless. I am trying to get Mr Rishiraj Singh's website where in I can make an online complaint with the pictures.

schocked to see this kind of behaviour. these kind of drivers should be taught a lesson. if i were in your situation, i would have reacted hard. you should thank god that you have been saved and no major hits on the car..imagine this bus hitting the car from behind.

Thank you pravin. When the incident occurred I was alone there and my car is a TN registered vehicle and they thought they can get away easily. But when I started the arguments in Malayalam they realized and escaped from the scene.

Bad luck buddy.That's totally pathetic,this volvo driver must be punished,you have done right thing bye filing a police complaint.
In photo he was so near,he would have touched the body.

Thank you patkar_a. Its so fortunate that no body damage happened. The gap is not even one inch I think.

Sorry to hear your accident. I can understand your feelings.

I too passed the same situation some time back while traveling from Ernakulam to Pathanamthitta. Me on left front passenger seat, and the driver doing his job. The driver was trying to overtake a Lorry. For some time the Lorry, and my vehicle were parallel. Then all of a sudden the Lorry, which on left side of my vehicle took a slight jump to right. I was watching, and given signal to the driver. No use, in front of me the left mirror broke down.

My driver also made the mistake . He could not judge the gap between two vehicles. He was ignorant about the size of the mirror. My vehicle got full insurance, and the service center quoted 17000 RS for the glass assembly. The mirror comes as a single unit. Toyota Kottayam service center informed that, they do not have the mirror assembly in stock. Need 2-3 days to reach at their service center. The insurance guy also misguided me with the no claim bonus(NCB).

That was my first experience. I was on a short vacation, no patience to keep the vehicle in their garage for next 2-3days and finally settled to pay from my side.

My suggestion is to get it fixed from the insurance.

Thank you Mathew. Whenever I drive in Kerala I am more alert and in spite of this it happens. I don't know why this contract carriage buses are so rash. If it is stage carrier line bus, of course there is a competition and they have to keep the timing.

Sorry to hear this, mate.
It is waste to throw words and get hit with the same. We can't really fight with these lame drivers. I know how it feels like when someone stab right in your heart, cause i faced a similar situation. But that's not gonna bring anything back. They are ready to strip & dance nude on the road and face anything, but we have other important jobs in life to take care. So, I would directly proceed with the claim process.

And since its a transport vehicle. Whatever mistake the driver makes, The passengers will support him ( you know the reason ).

Afterall, nobody is doing this on purpose. It is all an accident. I'm pretty sure the driver didn't want this to happen as well. But his mistake, not checking before making a move.

Best regards,
Deceptron.

Thank you for your kind words Deceptron, its a sad thing to accept especially when you love your ride a lot. And until it is brought to the original shape, won't get a proper sleep also.

 

[Varun560061]

Sorry about the incident sir, is it only the mirror damaged or even the fender ?

Any way waiting for your updates (regarding the FIR and insurance claims).

 

[manojodungat]

Very unfortunate incident indeed.

We do seem to have a better transport department system, thanks to Kerala’s current transport commissioner Mr. Rishi Raj Singh who seem to have decided to enforce the existing laws more strictly.

Please escalate this including the pictures taken to the concerned department and copy to Mr. Rishi Raj Singh at tcoffice@ keralamvd.gov.in, tc@ keralamvd.gov.in. Also care to provide a link to this thread too.

1. Deputy transport commissioner office, Trissur
E-mail : dtctcr@keralamvd.gov.in
phone [Office]: 0487-2360450, mobile: 8547639085

2. Regional Transport officer, Trissur
E-mail : kl08@keralamvd.gov.in
phone [Office]: 0487- 2360262, mobile: 8547639073

3. Transport commissioner officer, Thiruvanthapuram
Email : tcoffice@ keralamvd.gov.in, tc@ keralamvd.gov.in
phone [Office]: 0471- 2333317, mobile: 9446033314, 8547639000


MVDKerala - TC Officehttps://smartweb.keralamvd.gov.in/kmvdnew/services/complaints/complaintlogin.php
http://www.keralamvd.gov.in/images/mvd/events2013/complaintcell.pdf

 

[jayesh]

Sorry to hear about the incident sir, you can just say you were lucky no damage to the body.
hats off to the skoda Service people for being with you, it is the moral support that helps a lot.

Do keep us updated on FIR proceedings.

 

[Aneesh]

your experience is shared by many road user's of kerala.
these buses of private travel agencies run in a dangerous and reckless manner they drive with absolute disregard for other's lives.

Exactly,Not only travel agency pvt buses,almost all other heavy drivers here are very reckless. They just come very close to us in traffic and makes scratches on cars :\ once a pvt bus tail ended my cousins swift and the results was fully dented rear.

 

[Kichu]

Thats really so sad and I'm very sorry.

There are lots of indecent drivers who always hesitate to admit their mistakes.
Luckily, he stopped before damaging your fender.

Sir, your ORVM wont folds forward?

Things I do to lessen damages to the ORVM.
1)Regularly apply WD-40 to the joints to make it easily fold-able, so the impact can be reduced(My ORVM can be folded in both forward and backward direction)
2)Regularly apply wax to the exterior paint of ORVM to lessen the formation of scratches.
3)I was a person who dont like to use horn much. But after experiencing these kinds of things, I started using long press of horn in city traffics just to make the adjacent drivers to consider me and my car. I still hate making noise

You may need to wait for long to get justice.
Anyways all the best.

Regards.,
Kiran.

 

[AR Ram]

Very unfortunate incident indeed.

We do seem to have a better transport department system, thanks to Kerala’s current transport commissioner Mr. Rishi Raj Singh who seem to have decided to enforce the existing laws more strictly.

Please escalate this including the pictures taken to the concerned department and copy to Mr. Rishi Raj Singh at tcoffice@ keralamvd.gov.in, tc@ keralamvd.gov.in. Also care to provide a link to this thread too.

1. Deputy transport commissioner office, Trissur
E-mail : dtctcr@keralamvd.gov.in
phone [Office]: 0487-2360450, mobile: 8547639085

2. Regional Transport officer, Trissur
E-mail : kl08@keralamvd.gov.in
phone [Office]: 0487- 2360262, mobile: 8547639073

3. Transport commissioner officer, Thiruvanthapuram
Email : tcoffice@ keralamvd.gov.in, tc@ keralamvd.gov.in
phone [Office]: 0471- 2333317, mobile: 9446033314, 8547639000


MVDKerala - TC Officehttps://smartweb.keralamvd.gov.in/kmvdnew/services/complaints/complaintlogin.php
http://www.keralamvd.gov.in/images/mvd/events2013/complaintcell.pdf

Thank you Manoj for the link and I sent the complaint with pictures to all. And this is the copy of it-


Copy of the complaint sent to the transport departments


Sirs,

My name is A. Raghuram and my Vehicle Regn. No. is TN 07 AF 306 doing business at Chennai and belonging to Palakkad district, Kerala.

Yesterday on 23rd November 2013, I took my car for a regular service to Vision Motors, Thrissur and got the delivery at 5pm, after the service. I was coming on the main road and soon I reached the NH at Munnuthy Junction, there was a heavy traffic block and the vehicles were moving bit slow. All of a sudden a Volvo bus bearing Registation No. KA 01 AC 4548, a contract carriage bus of Kallada Travels, came on the left side of my vehicle and was trying overtake in a rash way. He smashed my door mirror on the left side. I immediately stopped the car and called out the driver. He came and behaved with me in a very rude manner not even given respect to my age of 57 years. He was challenging with me by saying "you do whatever you want, we know how to get out of it as we know all the people in Transport department". I called up the police, but before they arrived, this bus sped away. Its almost a case of Hit and Run.

Soon I went to the Mannuthy Police station, narrated the incident and lodged a complaint with the Sub-inspector and he assured that he will take necessary action against the driver.

I request you to locate the driver of this particular bus and take the legal action against him for abusing me, threatening me and damaging my car. These kinds of drivers are a threat to all the road users and the society as well.

As I am a big fan of Mr Rishiraj Singh, the Kerala's Transport Commissioner, and appreciate his outstanding effort to impose strict rule against all the traffic offenders.

This is the voice of a Citizen and I am sure this will be taken in a serious way, and the culprit will be brought to the law and punished.

Thanking you
(A. Raghuram)

The pictures of the incident are attached

 

[AR Ram]

Sorry about the incident sir, is it only the mirror damaged or even the fender ?

Any way waiting for your updates (regarding the FIR and insurance claims).

Thank you Varun, Its only the mirror got damaged, I have to replace the full assembly.

Sorry to hear about the incident sir, you can just say you were lucky no damage to the body.
hats off to the skoda Service people for being with you, it is the moral support that helps a lot.

Do keep us updated on FIR proceedings.

Thank you jayeash, I will definitely post the updates on this.

Exactly,Not only travel agency pvt buses,almost all other heavy drivers here are very reckless. They just come very close to us in traffic and makes scratches on cars :\ once a pvt bus tail ended my cousins swift and the results was fully dented rear./QUOTE]

Sorry about your cousin's swift. Since nobody is raising their voice these drivers are so arrogant.

Thats really so sad and I'm very sorry.

There are lots of indecent drivers who always hesitate to admit their mistakes.
Luckily, he stopped before damaging your fender.

Sir, your ORVM wont folds forward?

Things I do to lessen damages to the ORVM.
1)Regularly apply WD-40 to the joints to make it easily fold-able, so the impact can be reduced(My ORVM can be folded in both forward and backward direction)
2)Regularly apply wax to the exterior paint of ORVM to lessen the formation of scratches.
3)I was a person who dont like to use horn much. But after experiencing these kinds of things, I started using long press of horn in city traffics just to make the adjacent drivers to consider me and my car. I still hate making noise

You may need to wait for long to get justice.
Anyways all the best.

Regards.,
Kiran.

Thank you Kiran. Yes since he applied sudden brake the damage happened only to the mirror. The mirror folds to the front also, but due to the impact it got crushed inside.

 

[manojodungat]

Copy of the complaint sent to the transport departments

Sirs,
.....

A very well written letter and I hope the department to do the needful on this case to teach these arrogant long distance Volvo bus drivers a lesson and make them pay for their devilish act and make them compensate the innocents for their losses while driving on roads in our country.

Going by the way the department under Mr.Rishiraj Singh is functioning these days, don't be surprised if you get a call or response from the official/s concerned soon.