Pedestrians are still vulnerable lot on Delhi’s road; courtesy the rashly driven DTC buses. The incidents of road accidents and traffic violations by DTC buses continue unabated even as it was expected that the road fatalities would go down after the Blueline buses were taken off the roads.
The data available with the Delhi Traffic Police for violation by buses presents an alarming scene. According to the traffic police, 68 fatal accidents were caused by the DTC buses last year as compared to 87 cases reported in the year 2011. In 2012, a whopping 8,551 prosecutions were made against these buses for various violations that included dangerous driving and overtaking. Notably, these violations also amount to violation to the Supreme Court’s guidelines on heavy vehicles in the Capital that prohibit overtaking of any moving vehicle by the heavy vehicles and also exceeding the speed limit of 40 km per hour.
In 2012, as many as 8,551 DTC buses were prosecuted by the Delhi Traffic Police, out of which 3,802 for dangerous driving, 481 for over taking, 604 were impounded, 592 for improper parking and 817 for jumping red light.
In all 82 DTC bus drivers were arrested for various offences — including those of drunken driving and causing death due to accidents. A total of 68 fatalities were caused in 2012 out of which 10 deaths were reported while boarding and de-boarding the bus. In 2011 87 fatal accidents were caused. The introduction of the low-floor buses did provide a relief with the bus doors being closed but due to heavy crowd the doors remain open most of the time.