SANDWICHED: A file picture of an autorickshaw that got stuck between KSRTC and BMTC buses in Bangalore. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: With the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses accounting for nearly 10 per cent of the fatal and non-fatal road accidents, not only the commuters but also other road users have been put to inconvenience.

According to the statistics available with the traffic police, 22 people were killed and 105 injured in the accidents involving BMTC buses in the first five months of this year. In the accidents involving the BMTC buses, 85 were killed and 321 injured in 2005, while the respective figures for 2004 were 97 and 346.

Whenever a BMTC bus is involved in an accident, fatal or non-fatal, the vehicle is seized by the police. In some cases, the drivers flee the spot abandoning the bus. This leaves the commuters stranded.

In many cases, drivers do not stop the buses at designated spots, forcing some passengers to jump out of the moving bus.

The public say there have been several cases of commuters suffering facial injuries when drivers apply brakes suddenly. Most BMTC buses do not have first-aid boxes.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic-East) M. Abdullah Saleem says the police have been booking cases against conductors for allowing footboard travel. The common complaint against BMTC bus drivers is that they park the vehicles haphazardly at the bus stops and in the middle of the road. As many as 5,699 cases had been booked against the BMTC drivers in the first four months of this year and 2,857 of them are for haphazard parking, according to Mr. Saleem.

A senior BMTC official said the corporation had safety norms. In several cases, the negligence of other motorists and pedestrians had caused accidents, he said.

The official said that the drivers were being sensitised about road sense and road safety. The drivers were selected after they clear several rigorous tests.

After recruitment, they were allowed at the wheels only after providing additional training.

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