The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Buses found responsible for many fatal accidents Law & order

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Saturday, Apr 18, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Buses found responsible for many fatal accidents Law & order

Longer running time for buses can reduce fatal accidents, writes
V. S. Palaniappan

The agencies concerned have been making all out efforts to combat the accident rate and turn the city roads safer but the fatal accident rate keeps going up.

A cursory glance of the accident particulars relating to the last three months clearly indicated that the bus crew had contributed considerably to the fatal accidents.

In the last three months alone, 27 two-wheeler riders were killed and deaths caused by Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) buses were 18. Private buses had claimed 20 lives.

Though the two-wheeler riders constituted the highest number of death on roads, bus drivers ended up killing fellow motorists.

Bus drivers contest the charge stating that running time for buses between two destinations was fixed at least over a decade ago. The roads have narrowed and the vehicular population has increased by leaps and bounds.

The increasing road traffic as in the case of any growing urban centre has resulted in more traffic signals and bus stops.

Above all, the increasing patronage for the public transportation system had resulted in bus crew requiring more time at bus stops for enabling the passengers to disembark and board buses.

This forced drivers to go at a speed over and above the permitted speed limit on city roads, with scant regard for rules.

The plea for increasing the running time for town buses is the only solution that could help in making buses not responsible for death on the roads.

Any delay in completing a single trip and missing the next single owing to delay would result in revenue loss and neither the TNSTC nor the private bus operators spare the crew for such a revenue loss.

As a result of this, the concern for revenue pushes the safety of fellow motorists to the back burner.

Secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, K. Kathirmathiyon, pointed out that increasing the running time for buses, especially the town buses is paramount and this had been reiterated on a number of occasions both to the Government as well as at the Road Safety-cum-Traffic Advisory meetings.

The grouse of motorists, especially those driving cars and riding two-wheelers, was that bus drivers have the habit of unleashing terror on roads and even at traffic signals right in front of a traffic constable.

Field-level officers in traffic enforcement pointed out that intercepting a bus would mean a lot of consequences thereafter.

Because of trade union interventions, errant bus drivers go unpunished for their violations.

Above all intercepting a bus and issuing a challan to a driver would result in holding up the bus for some time or detaining the same, causing hardship to nearly 100 passengers on board these buses.

However, officers pointed out that violations by bus crew are taken note of and charge memos are sent to the TNSTC regularly.

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