With evidence emerging that human error could be the possible primary reason for the recent bus accident at Kondagattu, investigators are trying to assess what the other contributing factors are.
The team of experts found that the bus was in neutral condition while moving down the ghat road. “It is not advisable for any person to drive a bus in neutral on a ghat road with steep gradient,” the investigators said.
One tends to apply brakes more if the vehicle is in neutral. “This would heat up the brake liners and even sometimes damage them,” they said. Moreover, it would be difficult to control a vehicle if it was moving in neutral.
“It must be noted that there were 114 passengers — including children — in the bus. This overcrowding could have further made it difficult for the driver to control it,” the team of experts said. Before slipping into the gorge, the bus moved through the gap between an advertising hoarding and an electric pole on the edge of the ghat road. It was a co-incidence that it did not hit either the electric pole or the hoarding.
Overcrowding of the bus was one of the factors that contributed to the accident, a police officer associated with the investigation of the case remarked.
The Palle Velugu bus had a 54-seat capacity, officials said. “We are also probing if the driver got distracted because of something,” the investigators said. The angle of possible distraction of the driver assumed significance in the case as the bus went past another four-wheeler coming in the opposite direction before slipping into the ditch.
Though the ghat road had crash barriers, they were not strong enough to take collision impact of a heavy vehicle like a bus.
Already, Road Safety Authority Director General T. Krishna Prasad held a meeting with the district authorities on safety audit of the road and is likely to forward his observations to the investigators.
