A day after a video of two private buses competing with each other on Coimbatore-Pollachi road, which is being widened, went viral on social media, authorities intensified checking to curb rash driving on the stretch.
Licence of the two drivers - V. Nagaraj (41) of Pollachi and Vairamuthu (42) of Palani - were cancelled temporarily for competitive and rash driving on Coimbatore - Pollachi road on Saturday.
Coimbatore rural SP R.V. Ramya Bharathi said the two drivers were summoned and arrested under various sections of IPC.
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They would be produced before the magistrate.
As part of the efforts to check rash driving, on Sunday, the Coimbatore rural police took 31 buses into custody for offences such as speeding, and rash and negligent driving.
The cases were registered at Kinathukadavu (17), Gomangalam (12), and Pollachi Taluk (2) police stations.
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After watching the video, Pollachi Sub-Collector Gayathri Krishnan in her capacity as sub-divisional magistrate wrote to the Regional Transport Officer (Pollachi) to initiate action against them.
“The two buses and their drivers were identified with the help of the video. The licences of the two drivers have been withheld temporarily for further action to be taken after an inquiry. The RTO and I will give separate reports to the District Collector who will take the final decision on permanent cancellation of the licences,” said Ms. Krishnan.
She added that licences of three private bus drivers have already been withheld for similar offences.
Ms. Krishnan said a meeting of bus operators would be held on Tuesday where they would be directed to sensitise drivers.
Installation of speed governor in buses would also be considered at the meeting jointly conducted with RTO.
“In addition, the RTO has been asked to deploy additional number of motor vehicle inspectors on the road to control traffic violations risking human lives. In fact, the number of accidents on the stretch has come down after efforts taken since February. While 12 accidents involving private buses were reported in February, it reduced to five in March and one in April as on Saturday,” she said.
Pollachi RTO N. Karthikeyan said the department would conduct separate inspections on the stretch to control speeding and rash driving.