KOCHI: They are rude, arrogant and have scant regard for rules.
City roads are their killing ground and they fear no one, not even the police. After a series of accidents involving private buses which led to many a death the police had started monitoring private buses and came down heavily on drivers for speeding and overtaking.
But after a few weeks when the police slightly relaxed their grip they went back to their old habits of speeding and rash driving.
Bus owners employ young men and even those with criminal records as drivers.
They are interested only in making profit by charting more trips.
Once behind the wheel the drivers seem to be under the false impression that the roads belong to them and won’t let anyone overtake them. Since they have the support of bus owners drivers are not hesitant to violate rules.
The only way to tame these drivers is to give them proper behavioural training. Their basic attitude has to be changed.
Training should be given to them on how to behave with passengers. If driver is involved in an accident and if it is the mistake of that particular driver he should have the courage to admit it. That should be the attitude.
No one, and that includes political parties, should blindly support errant drivers for selfish reasons.
While selecting drivers owners should use their discretion.
They should not select drivers with criminal records. Only drivers with years of experience, who have undergone driving courses should be posted in buses for the safety of the public.
A team of officials from different departments must be formed to book violators of law. The team could comprise officials from the RTO, the police, people’s representatives, legal department and media persons and should be entrusted with the duty of checking vehicles to ensure more transparency.
If anyone feels that the team is not dealing properly with those who have been booked for traffic violation a written complaint can be given so that the incident is scrutinised by other teams from the same departments and action taken.
The allegation of police harassment of drivers can be checked to a certain extent with this arrangement.
Checking of vehicles must be conducted for a specified period of time in a selected route on an experimental basis to find out what leads to traffic violation in that area.
This can be adopted on other city routes and rectifications made after a detailed study.
kochi@expressbuzz.com
