Between Jan 1 and Sept 4 this year, BMTC buses were involved in 81 deaths, 12 major accidents and 318 minor accidents. Last year, the BMTC Accidents Division recorded 28 deaths, 20 major accidents and 126 minor accidents.
File pic.
According to the records, Yelahanka recorded the most accidents, 16, from Jan 2010 to Apr 2010. In the previous year, for the same period, it was Subhashnagar with most accidents. Records show 18 accidents.
More than 3,000 buses crisscross the city out of 36 bus depots, says Nithin Hegade, a division traffic officer. 31 thousand drivers operate these buses.
Hegade attributes these accidents to negligent driving, traffic congestion and third-party fault. It is considered third-party fault when another vehicle causes the accident.
"BMTC pays compensation for the damages or any loss of life. We have a tie-up with an insurance company which deals with it," said Hegade.
The driver’s punishment varies depending on how serious the accident is.
In a minor case, the driver loses incentives or a month’s salary, says R.Vinutha, a junior assistant from the accidents division of BMTC. In major cases or fatal accidents, the driver is suspended for six months. If he is a repeat offender, he will be dismissed.
But the implementation of the punishment varies on a case to case basis. For example Vinita says "last month, a driver was charged for three minor, two major and two fatal cases" but he was only placed under suspension.
The BMTC traffic inspector investigates an accident as soon it is reported. Once the facts of the case are confirmed, the BMTC files a complaint against the driver with the police.
Figures for the year 2010, from 1 Jan to 4 Sept, as provided by the BMTC Central Office, Accidents Division:
|
Month |
Major |
Minor |
Death |
Injuries |
Damages |
Total |
|
Jan |
0 |
41 |
9 |
38 |
35 |
50 |
|
Feb |
5 |
43 |
11 |
76 |
35 |
59 |
|
Mar |
1 |
34 |
12 |
25 |
34 |
47 |
|
April |
1 |
38 |
15 |
38 |
34 |
54 |
|
May |
2 |
40 |
9 |
45 |
36 |
49 |
|
June |
1 |
46 |
10 |
42 |
30 |
57 |
|
July |
1 |
36 |
8 |
45 |
30 |
45 |
|
Aug |
1 |
34 |
5 |
28 |
21 |
40 |
|
Sept |
0 |
6 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
8 |
|
Total |
12 |
318 |
81 |
342 |
257 |
409 |
⊕
Considering how the other small drivers drive on the road and space given to BMTC bus this shows how disciplined BMTC vehicles are. The vehicles are huge in size and it doesnt matter whether bus mows someone or someone goes against the bus-it will be the 3rd party who suffers. In all my years of travel I havent seen anyoe else more disciplined than the BMTC drivers. The worst drivers being the 2 wheelers who least care about themselves as well as others-just zip through any vehicle and end up falling before them-the result they are going to end up is known to all. So just 81 deaths is not a huge when compared to the total deaths on city roads due to accidents
I realise it is not easy to drive the huge buses on chaotic roads. Some of the older buses don’t even have large rearview mirrors.
However there are two things that affect drivers – talking on the cell phone while driving, & the driver doubling up conductors dispensing tickets and change with one hand, while steering with another.
Both these are scary.
‘@ Siddharth – It is not “just” 81 deaths. Death is a death. Be it one person or 81. The issue is the severity/seriousness of the matter that has to be looked into. And, I agree that the no.of road accidents are more than these. But, this cannot be overlooked because apart from theirs, so many lives are at risk.
See i did not mean to justify or quantify deaths-every living being has a life and is important-I just wanted to highlight the bias we have towards the govt organizations especially buses on the city roads-we show a magnified view of even a small accident if it is caused by a bus
Eg: Few months back there was an accident on Hosur road involving a Big10 service, a car and a 2 wheeler-2 wheeler was worst affected whoever may be the reason-it was reported on TV9 channel. When a person called up and spoke to the channel he said we cant arrive at a solution and bus might not have been a cause-needless to say the call was immediately disconnected by media-why who knows it may have been the reality seeing that bus was on the left corner of the road?
If we remove this bias from our mind and read my previous entry i feel you might understand it better and probably the heading can also be changed-please remember BMTC drivers are also humans-humans with greater responsibility than any other vehicle driver on the road as he has to see them as well as his own passengers-and he does so many trips on a road where doing a single trip irritates us-he is not a supari killer
Well this can qualify how disciplined the drivers are:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Bangalore/article1065447.ece