HOT TOPICS
SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES
Know about BMTC accidents that shook you? - Please reply
Written By Richa.Dhodi - 25 March, 2009
Bangalore BMTC Driving Bus Safety Need Help Accident
I am a student and I am looking at BMTC accidents for my project. Can you please help me in knowing about bus accidents or victims or their families who got injured or died in Bus accidents?
Brief about my project- My project is basically seeing the fatal/non-fatal accidents cases which has happened by BMTC buses.
So please let me knwo if you know about any such cases and also tell me your views on this hurtful problem where drivers are ignorant about the life of people.
and any expert in the city with whom i can talk to regarding the bus accident cases.
[PS: Moderator's note: Richa, extra long subject lines break some formatting. We will soon automate clipping of long titles, but meanwhile, please try use shorter titles. thanks!]
COMMENTS

I think no - don't blame only them
silkboard - 25 March, 2009 - 17:47
To be fair, at least on my side of town, I don't see that many rash BMTC drivers. Honest and fair observation. The way they drive is not much different from the way you and me drive - thats what I mean by fair. Private bus drivers are much worse than BMTC drivers, yellow cabs are the worst - observation based opinion. But we love to beat on big and sarkaari vehicles, only because we can. Take on a yellow plate qualis or sumo if you (newspapers, on-road activists) have the guts to do so.
BMTC drivers have bigger vehicles, and have more momentum to manage. Recently, I have seen two minor (thank god) accidents involving bus and two wheelers. The two wheeler was at fault (1 - trying to sneak in from side, 2nd - driving on wrong side) in both the cases.
They can certainly drive better, and some of them are bad too. But if most BMTC drivers were rash or bad as we make them out to be, fatality rates on Bangalore roads would be 2x higher, I think.

s_yajaman - 25 March, 2009 - 17:59
SB,
Do you live in the same city as the rest of us? :). I think BMTC sent about 100 people last year to parinirvana.
My work takes me to Bombay quite often. When I see a line of BEST buses approaching a stop, I rarely see them overtake each other or overtake and then cut in front of the bus that is standing. Our friends here don't see to get this (like the rest of us - I have seen many cars overtake me only to turn left!).
Then the VVs and their high speed driving on Nh7 weaving in and out of traffic. No governors? No basic training to stay left or the middle of a 6 lane highway?
Sorry - but as the biggest vehicles on the road they need to be extra careful. And if BMTC cannot train 5000 drivers on safety (100/session = 50 sessions) then they need to be hauled up.
I think a monetary reward of rs.10000 should be given for accident free driving and safe driving. How they will decide criteria I don't know and how they will track and measure. It should include some theory questions as well.
Srivathsa

Srivatsava - 26 March, 2009 - 06:57
The point about non-existant governers is incorrect. three weeks back, I Volvo driver told me that almost all buses are fixed with speed governers (I have not made any independant verification of the same!!). he also told me that if beyond 70kmph, if the driver continued to press the accelerator, the accelerator pedal retards back. He also explained me the mechanism/procedure to disable the governer, which I did not understand!! And also told me that BMTC officers inspects the buses regularly to check if the governers are tampered with... And that a few drivers were fined/warned for doing so....
sometimes, reading the praja comments, I get a feeling that probably the civic agencies are bent upon to destroy the city and only intend to harm the people here. I am not saying this based on your comment, this was a general opinion about a few posts!!
-Srivatsava V
http://srivatsava-vajapeyam.blogspot.com

s_yajaman - 26 March, 2009 - 07:28
How Airport VVs are able to overtake my taxi which is going close to 80 kmph.
a) Bad behaviour at bus stops is tantamount to unsafe driving because a small mistake and someone is likely to get hit and get seriously injured. Expecting passengers to get off in the middle of the road puts them at risk to getting hit by some other vehicle.
b) Jumping lights - please go stand at KR Circle at 9:00 p.m. and see how our BMTC friends not only jump lights but harass people who are waiting for the light to turn green by honking persistently from behind. Or even the VVs on NH7 who jump lights because they are going too fast to stop in time.
Of course compared to their ilk in Cochin our lot are saints. But let alone Singapore, they don't match up with even BEST. BTP needs to help them by clearing the bus stops of autos for starters.
On the impression on civic agencies - look at the state of our city and tell me, whether they intended it or not, have they not brought it to ruin by their lack of planning? Their attitude to citizens if one of master-servant. When my wife recently went to BDA to enquire about a BDA khata - the man starts shouting at her. Similar story happened at a post office to someone else. At BBMP - naale banni is the common refrain as if we have our whole lives to spend at BBMP.
BDA - see the difference between the way Jayanagar has been planned and just go a bit south and see JP Nagar . Leaving aside BG Road and Kanakapura Road - there is just 24th Main that connects most of JP Nagar to Jayanagar and beyond. They did not have the foresight to leave a couple of corridors for a Metro or some through expressways.
BBMP - less said the better. Cannot manage to provide even decent footpaths. Dog problem - nothing done. Cannot manage parking. Good at cutting trees. Good at widening roads without leaving footpaths.
SY

Are BMTC bus drivers root cause for all bus accidents?
Richa.Dhodi - 25 March, 2009 - 15:18
I m staying in Bangalore city for almost 1 year now and i daily commute through buses. The major problem which i see is city bus drivers of BMTC are that they are too rash while driving which results in accidents.
What you have to say about the fatal accidents which we hear daily through media?
Does any of your relative or known is affected by that ? please contatc me .. at - richa.dhodi@gmail.com
i can help you.
PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES
Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!