Seat belts must for drivers, single passengers in KSRTC luxury buses

Bengaluru: It is not only drivers of private cars and commercial vehicles who should fasten their seat belts. Now even the drivers of KSRTC buses and passengers of some of the premium KSRTC services should wear seat belts mandatorily.

Senior KSRTC officers have decided to make seat belts mandatory for bus drivers and single-seat passengers in premium KSRTC buses to ensure their safety.

A senior KSRTC officer said, “We had observed that in majority of accidents, the driver and single seat passengers sustained severe injuries and died when buses were involved in major accidents. While researching the reason behind the deaths of drivers, we learnt that they could not hold onto their seats and it was true of single seat passengers too.”

He said, “We have decided to fix seat belts in all buses soon and raise awareness among conductors and drivers. We want to ensure that they wear seat belts and also they make single seat passengers fasten seat belts during the journey. We will have separate teams to conduct surprise checks to see whether drivers are wearing seat belts. Those violating the rule, including the passengers, will be penalised.”

Another officer said there were seat belts in a few air-conditioned buses, but were damaged by passengers. He said, “A few years ago, we had introduced seat belts in 35 air-conditioned buses, but none of the passengers were using it, including the drivers. As they were damaged, we had to remove them. But now, we want to ensure that every safety measure is implemented, and one of them includes seat belts. We will hold another meeting with officers and will start fixing seat belts.”

He said, “We are trying to introduce a system where a driver cannot start the vehicle unless he fastens the seat belt. This technology is already used in a few cars and trucks. We will study the technology and will check if it is feasible for KSRTC buses.”

LED screens in BMTC’s A/C buses

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will soon get LED television screens in 15 air-conditioned buses, which will provide real-time information on weather, traffic, flight and train timings and more.

A senior BMTC officer said that in the first phase, 15 buses will be equipped with high-definition screens and each bus will have two screens. In the next phase, more buses will get the screens. The work will be carried out in a phased manner and will ensure every air-conditioned bus is installed with the screens.

He said, “We will also air informative programmes that suit the passengers and it is also being discussed that any update or information regarding transport will also be displayed on the screen. For now, we will display information on the weather, status of traffic congestion on the route the bus is travelling, train and flight timings and also the next bus stop. Informative videos about the city and other aspects will also be shown.” Another officer said that a private firm will be in charge of maintaining the screens. “Earlier, we had installed screens on a pilot basis, but it was not a success as maintenance was poor. But this time, we are sure that it will help passengers and will be maintained properly,” he said.

A regular passenger of BMTC, Veena Kumar, an employee at an insurance company, said, “Informative screens will be helpful for passengers and will also help us to know where there is traffic and how they can plan their onward journey. It is a good system but it should be maintained.”