Buses in ‘Fast and Furious battle’ speed through dust clouds in order to pick up passengers first

 The vehicles veered into the path of oncoming traffic during the race Photo: Mirror

Two buses determined to beat each other took part in a Fast and Furious battle as they raced down a road.

Footage shows one of the drivers going over into the right hand lane and then driving onto the side of the road creating a cloud of dust in order to avoid crashing head-on with oncoming traffic.

He then pulls in front of his rival, who then also decides to pull off to the side of the road and attempts to overtake on the inside.

But he is then thwarted when the bus in front also falls onto the dust covered side of the road to stop the attempt.

The footage was recorded on a dashcam on a vehicle travelling behind the two buses, on the Coimbatore-Pollachi road, in the District of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu State, southern India.

A district official at Pollachi, Gayatri Krishnan, told local media: "Construction work is on in this stretch of the road and we have warned the bus owners that they will lose their permit if rash driving continues. We had seized licences of three drivers earlier for the same offence."

He said that the problem was that bus drivers want to get ahead of rivals in order to pick up passengers first and make sure they got all the business.

The competition means that bus drivers are increasingly driving fast and dangerously.

The district official added: "We are exploring possibilities to increase the timing so that there is no incentive for buses to drive in such unsafe manner."