Hyderabad: RTC buses have been causing more mishaps in the city than ever before.
There are at least five mishaps involving RTC buses every week in Hyderabad in which commuters are killed or maimed. Traffic police data reveals that RTC buses have caused around 286 accidents in the Twin Cities and outskirts in the last 11 months.
Police officials and road safety experts say that the increase in the number of accidents is due to rash driving and road rule violations by bus drivers.
According to Hyderabad Traffic Police, more than 27,000 e-challans are pending against the RTC drivers for various road rule violations in the last five years. “Most of the cases involve signal jumping, and a major share of RTC accidents happens near signals,” said A.V. Ranganath, Traffic DCP-2, of Hyder-abad Traffic Police.
Experts say that the “zig-zag” movement of the RTC buses also causes mishaps. “The buses are on the right side while moving on the road and they suddenly move to left, to the bus bays, which often causes crashes,” said a police officer.
Read: Separate bus tracks to ease traffic: Experts
Since RTC is a government service, rash and negligent driving by the drivers is often overlooked by the enforcement agencies. Police only initiate action when a hue and cry is raised after a major crash.
Police data says that most of the victims in RTC bus mishaps are two-wheeler riders most of whom are either seriously injured or killed. Other victims are pedestrians and people who try to board the bus or disembark when the vehicle is in motion.
RTC officials argue that the entire blame cannot be put on the drivers. “We tend to blame the big vehicle in every accident. Even if a two-wheeler rider is at fault and he dashes into an RTC bus, the police normally books cases against the bus driver. In many RTC mishaps, two-wheeler riders are at fault,” said Jay Rao, RTC executive director of Greater Hyderabad Zone. He added that since it’s the largest fleet on the road and carry more than 40 lakh passengers in majority of the routes in the city, mishaps are inevitable.
According to police data, RTC buses cause more accidents than three wheelers and heavy vehicles. In the Twin Cities, the buses caused 222 accidents till Nove-mber this year, they caused 64 mishaps in the outskirts, under the Cyberabad commissionerate limits.
