Kerala is among India’s most beautiful states.
We also personally found it to be among the most dangerous to drive in.
Prior to entering Kerala, we’d been driving through more sparsely populated parts of India. The drive up to that point went through the Indian countryside where several times each day we would come upon a town or a village and at least once per day through a big city. Along the way we would pass herds of cattle, trucks, cars, and other auto rickshaws.
Kerala was different. Along the coast, driving on the NH-17, we found it to be very densely populated. The towns and cities never ended and seemed to blend into each other. The roads were always crowded with cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, and of course cattle. We felt like we were in constant stop and go and the stress of the single lane highway was taking a toll on us.
On January 15th, the day before we were due to arrive at the finish line, things took a turn for the worst. Kerala has many bridges which cross rivers along the coastline. Bridges are a tough pill to swallow. Often times they’re a bit rundown and everyone drives a bit slower than normal. Worst of all, bridges are far narrower than the roadways and have no shoulder.
We’d been driving probably close to 30 kilometres per hour. The leading team at this point was the Rickshaw Knight Riders. They’d been a few cars ahead of us which was very normal in this high traffic region. The rest of the three teams were all directly behind each other where Blighty was leading, then us (Tuk Tuk Goose), followed by Tukelicious. We were following each other pretty closely to avoid losing each other.
As we were about to enter a bridge, a bus (the WORST drivers on the road) was attempting a pass and was in our lane headed right for us in what was sure to be a head-on collision (we faced this many, many times in Kerala). At the last second with almost two wheels on the ground, the bus cut back into its own lane, but not before the car in front of Blighty slammed on its brakes. Blighty in turn slammed on their brakes and veered to the shoulder right before the bridge. Seema slammed on her brakes also veering to the shoulder, and Tukelicious slammed on their brakes, but unfortunately not fast enough they slammed into us, and we watched as their rickshaw tipped over onto its side in the oncoming traffic.
Instantly Blighty and Tuk Tuk Goose jumped out of their rickshaws to aid Tukelicious. We ran over to help, Tukelicious jumped out of the side of the vehicle and we pushed their rickshaw to the side of the road before a car, truck or bus slammed into them.
It was a harrowing experience. Louisa and Paul from Tukelicious both hit their heads and were a bit shaken up. Eugenie seemed to be doing ok even though she was on the side of the rickshaw that hit the road. To be safe, we took a trip to a local doctor about a kilometre away and spent some time taking a breather.
Charlie Brown was banged up real bad in the back. We took a big dent right where our gas tank was and our wheelguard was dented so much so that it was at risk of shredding our tire. Amazingly, we all made it out of there safely, and further more, our rickshaws were all drivable. At this point, making it to the end safely was our biggest priority.
Team Blighty passing a motorcycle, passing another motorcycle.
