BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP), in association with the BMTC, has launched a training programme for the latter’s drivers. This is given the increasing number of cases of deaths due to road accidents involving BMTC buses.
From January to November, 34 deaths have been recorded due to accidents involving BMTC buses.
In all, 97 injury cases have been recorded. According to a senior officer from the BTP, since January, 13,917 cases have been booked against BMTC drivers for violation of traffic rules and fines amounting to Rs 1.04 crore imposed on the transport corporation under the Motor Vehicle Act.
Accident-free and safe driving skills and practices are being taught to the drivers during the training programme, he said. “Our intention is not to book cases against the BMTC drivers and collect fines. We aim to reduce the number of fatal road accidents in the city,” the officer said.
Along with BMTC, KSRTC drivers are also taking part in the training programme, he added. Chief Traffic Manager (Operations) GT Prabhakar Reddi said, “We are worried about the increasing road accident cases involving our buses. The corporation is also losing crores of rupees as fines for violation of traffic rules. To ensure that our drivers follow traffic rules and regulations strictly and drive safely, we have launched the training programme in association with the BTP.”
Sasikala, ACP, Head of Police Traffic Command Centre, and Anil Kumar Purohit, Police Inspector (Traffic), presented a video demonstration on safe driving and steps to avoid violation of traffic rules for drivers during one of the training sessions.
The programme, which began on December 4, will end on December 30. Every day, 50 drivers are trained at the Traffic Command Centre in the city.