HYDERABAD: Two bus accidents in the last one week by long-distance private buses originating from Hyderabad, which happened in Kurnool and Krishna districts has re-opened the discussion on overspeeding private buses. The two incidents left 14 dead and over 30 injured after the buses belonging to private travel agencies were possibly driving at non-permissible speed limits.
Experts opine that the only way to curtail this menace is by installing speed governors in private buses, a practice which is not being followed in TS. “RTC buses have been asked to fit speed governors. The State government must take a serious view about this and pass a rule to affix speed governors in private buses as well,’’ Vinod Kamula, Chief Functionary of Indian Federation of Road Safety," said.
The rationale behind the need for such a device is the fact that it is impossible to regulate speed by imposing fees in national and state highways as it would require CCTV cameras and sensors on these long stretches. However, speed governors can substantially increase travel time, making private buses undesirable for inter-state travel. “The company often forces us to complete a trip in 17-18 hrs. However, getting out of the city itself takes at least one hour. Then there are several RTA checks which further delays. There is no alternative other than driving at 80-90 speed,” a caretaker on a Kerala-bound bus said.
Besides this, the question of overworked drivers also comes as it is well known that the drivers are forced to take repeated trips. “Even though there are two drivers, one will take the vehicle from Hyderabad to Kochi in 18 hrs. On reaching the destination, they get just 2 hrs of rest, and restart their journey back in the same bus to Hyderabad via Bangalore and may drive up to Kurnool which makes their total driving time to 24 hrs,” added another caretaker. It also raises a concern about the condition of the buses for such long hours of travel. Meanwhile, officials note that there is no provision in the State motor vehicles or in Central laws to instal speed governors and on the other hand, some buses do not come with provision to fit them. “There is no such provision to enforce buses to fit speed governors so we can’t mandate them,” C Ramesh, Joint Transport Commissioner of TS RTA, said.
Death toll rises to 16
The death roll in the ghastly road accident at Veldurthi rose to 16 after one of the injured persons died while undergoing treatment at the Kurnool Government General Hospital in the small hours of Sunday. The deceased was identified as Venkatramudu, resident of Ramapuram village, in Vaddepalli mandal. Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at the hospital with grief-stricken families of the deceased along with villagers who gathered at the hospital