Rash and negligent driving by private buses on the rise in city

Special drives to nab vehicles violating traffic rules to resume in a week

The spree of fatal accidents involving private buses during the past one month and a half and recurring incidents of reckless driving have caught the traffic police and the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) on the wrong foot.

A senior traffic police officer said what began with a private bus ramming 14 vehicles on Foreshore Road in mid-November, reportedly due to brake failure, was followed by a spree of major accidents. They included a private bus which was overtaking another vehicle and was fully on the wrong side ramming a two-wheeler, resulting in the death of a young man and a woman pillion rider at Vypeen a month ago. This was followed by a couple of deaths in the city suburbs, after buses took off even as passengers were entering or disembarking them.

On their part, bus operators confided that a section of them was turning a blind eye to gross rule violations, which included rash driving and halting of buses on the middle of the road to collect passengers. “They seem to forget that reckless driving worsens wear and tear and also considerably lessens fuel efficiency, while at the same time creating a negative image among passengers and other road users,” said an office-bearer of a prominent bus operators’ association.