Saturday’s school accident on the Yarada Hill ghat road that left about 50 students injured, with two sustaining head injures and four others suffering fractures, has opened up a number of unanswered questions.
Primarily, the road transport authorities, who inspected the accident site and the three buses involved in the accident, confirmed that there was no failure of brakes or any mechanical malfunction, but it was a clear case of human negligence.
Speaking to The Hindu, RTA Deputy Commissioner S. Venkateswara Rao said that the condition of the buses was good and it appears that the drivers did not maintain the distance of at least 25 feet between them, as per the norms.
Three buses of a private school at Anakapalle were ferrying about 120 students from the school after a picnic at Yarada on Saturday afternoon, and while getting down a steep gradient on the Yarada Hill ghat road, the last of the three buses suddenly rammed the middle one and the bus was sandwiched between the first and the last. Initially, the cause was attributed to failure of brakes of the third bus, but it was negated by the RTA officials.
According to the police and the RTA officials, the buses appear to have not been maintaining the required distance of about 25 feet between them and the first bus would have applied sudden brakes for some reason and the buses moving behind it rammed it, one after the other.
Since, the second one was hit from both the ends, it suffered maximum damage and the injuries were also high in that bus, said ACP (traffic) Kinjarapu Prabhakar.
Investigation is on
The investigation would be completed only after getting the version of two other drivers who were getting treatment, said Mr. Venkateswara Rao.
Management blamed
Both RTA and police officials blame the management for the accident. The drivers are not trained in driving on the ghat road. School buses are supposed to take children from the boarding point to the school and bring them back. “As per the norms, they are not supposed to drive on ghat roads and do other duties. And keeping this in mind we are initiating action both against the drivers and the school management,” said Mr. Venkateswara Rao. Moreover, each bus has a capacity 30 students and they were overcrowded with over 40 in each bus, he added.
“Secondly, the road condition is very bad and it is one of the most neglected roads and the accident took place at a very steep gradient.”
“There are no signages or cautionary boards, which are a must on any ghat road. There is no side wall on major part of the road and if buses moved to the left then at least one them would have tumbled down 30 feet into the valley and that would have been disastrous,” the officer observed. .
“The road is narrow and suitable for just one-way traffic and there are no cross carriers and road marking and the illumination is partial. Most significantly, the bushes on the side of the road have not been cut and that reduces the visibility at the sharp bends.”
In Visakhapatnam there were about 1,700 school buses and over 1,500 have passed the fitness test this year. And these three buses have also passed the test, but they should not have been used for picnics, said Mr. Venkateswara Rao.
All the injured are said to be out of danger.
