BENGALURU: Two drivers of school vans were caught by the traffic police on Tuesday for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol. This is the sixth such instance this month where school bus drivers were caught drunk behind the wheel.
A private school van was seized in Nagarbhavi by Byatarayanapura traffic police on Tuesday. Vettasamy (43) was ferrying students of various private schools in Nagarbhavi early on Tuesday. Traffic police stopped the vehicle and asked him for documents. Vettasamy got out of the vehicle and traffic police noticed that he smelled of alcohol.
“We subjected him to an alcometer test and found that he had consumed alcohol beyond permissible levels,” said a police officer. “There were six students on board when we caught the vehicle and he was on his way to pick up more children. We arranged another vehicle to take the students to their schools,” he added.
“More school bus drivers are being caught for drunk driving because of increased checks. Many of these drivers drink at night and head to work early in the morning. We have intensified checks to prevent any incidents,” said a police officer.
In a seperate checking drive the Old Airport traffic police caught Manjunath, the driver of school bus belonging to Kendriya Vidyalaya, Jivan Bima Nagar, for driving under the influence of alcohol on Tuesday evening.
“We have seized the bus and registered a case,” said an official.
In another case, Chikpet traffic police booked 122 cases against autorickshaws for carrying excess schoolchildren on Tuesday.