Only In Kerala: Residents Buy Ambulance… After Threatening To Thrash Overspeeders
In India, it isn’t rare to find poorly maintained roads. Potholes and bad patches cause major inconvenience and safety hazards to people and motorists. Residents often fume about these. Have you ever seen people complaining about the roads being too good? Such an incident occurred in Kerala’s Kochi recently. Overspeeding has made a well-built 14km long stretch in Parappuram accident-prone. Crash and incident counts have gone up so much that residents from the place had to put up warning boards threatening to thrash rash and negligent drivers, and even crowdfund to buy an ambulance of their own.
The road in question here is the Deshom–Vallamkadavu stretch that spans 14.1 kilometers. It connects Vallamkadavu in Perumbavoor with Kajoor’s Parappuram. It is of key significance for travellers coming to the Kochi International airport from places like Kottayam. This road was renovated last year, at a cost of Rs 17 crores. It is now smooth and very comfortable to drive on.
Motorists now tend to speed on the stretch, due to the same. Rash and reckless driving has caused many accidents here in the recent months. These claimed at least three lives and caused serious injuries to many. Locals tried issuing warnings to passing drivers and riders. These failed to curb the crash rate, forcing the residents to come up with the blunt warning.
Images shared online show a flex board that reads ‘Warning! Whoever drives recklessly or negligently and causes an accident will be beaten up by the local residents. There will be no mercy.’ The residents’ move to speak the language of fear shows how fed up they are with the rising accident counts.
They further crowd-funded and bought an ambulance to help accident victims here. People from the place pooled up to Rs 9 lakh and bought the Eeco-based emergency vehicle. It is now being operated by the SNDP Yogam Youth Movement .
The latest accident on this stretch reportedly happened on September 5, 2025. Kerala celebrated its harvest festival- Onam, that day. 59-year-old Xavier, a resident of Parappuram, was riding to a nearby shop when he was hit by a speeding motorcycle. The bike was reportedly carrying three young students. Xavier was soon rushed to the nearby hospital, in the community ambulance, but could not be saved.
"Motorists, especially youngsters, have started slowing down. We had no other choice. The accidents are happening every two or three days. There are not enough warning signs or speed checks along the road," said Nishad KG, the president of the Youth Movement.
In the wake of these mishaps, the authorities have clarified that they have put up enough warning signs in the place. "The road was renovated to high standards using bituminous macadam and concrete layering (BMBC). There are signboards and speed limit warnings in place. However, easing curves or widening them was not part of this project,"- says a source from the state PWD.
Residents aren’t buying this explanation, though. To them, without speed breakers, cameras, or curve corrections, the road remains dangerous and a magnet for overspeeders! In a response to rising public concerns, the Kalady police have tightened patrols and checks to nab overspeeding vehicles. The Public Works Department has also been requested to install more warning signs and boards on the stretch.
Proper development of the road infrastructure is critical in ensuring safety. As the roads continue to develop, motorists should also ensure adherence to safe speeds and do their best to ride/drive safely and responsibly. A well-built road isn’t a speedway, and people really need to understand this.