Hyderabad: Rash driving by RTC drivers resulted in 84 deaths in 2013 and till March this year, 11 deaths have already been chalked up to RTC buses in the city. While RTC has been taking disciplinary action, buses jumping red signals, taking sudden turns and not stopping at bus bays are the main problems. RTC authorities, meanwhile, are sacking 10 to 15 drivers every month in the city due to rash driving.
Statewide bus accident figures available up to 2012 show roughly 3,500 accidents each year of which 1,300 are fatal. However, these are accidents by RTC buses, school buses as well as private buses together.
As per the statistics available of 2012, a total of 3,497 accidents involving buses (all kinds) were recorded in the state in which 1, 229 people died. Also, 4,321 people were injured as per the figures provided by the ministry of road transport.
In Hyderabad, the number of bus accidents has seen only a slight decrease in the last five years though the number of deaths have not reduced despite various measures like repeated training, health checkups, psychological tracking of drivers etc. In fact, officials say that in most cases the fatalities involving RTC buses are due to students trying to get on or off moving buses and two-wheelers suddenly trying to overtake.
However, the large number of penalties pending on account of traffic violations give a different picture. In 2013, there were a total of 6,980 challans issued to RTC buses while in 2014 so far, there have been 1567 challans issued.
Additional commissioner of police (traffic) Jitendar Kumar said, “There are several penalty cases against APSRTC buses which are pending since years. Signal jumping is the most common violation.”
