The repeated attempts to discipline the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus drivers have fallen flat as it was revealed that DTC buses have been involved in 6,524 cases of traffic violations this year.
A majority of cases out of these are of dangerous driving and violating lanes. The two offences comprise 2,986 cases. In an alarming trend, there has been a significant increase in the number of lives claimed by the State-run buses. DTC buses have killed 40 people this year till July 15, as against 34 last year in the same period.
Most fatal accidents according to the traffic police are a result of the DTC buses not following their lanes, thus rendering the roads prone to accidents. DTC bus drivers have been repeatedly asked to stick to their lanes and several drives have been initiated with regard to this.
According to the traffic police, DTC buses are involved in all kinds of traffic norms including lane violations, over-speeding and jumping the signals. “There were 454 cases in which DTC bus drivers have been arrested for major traffic violations and another 254 cases in which the buses have been impounded. Apart from this, 454 Corporation-run buses have been booked for jumping red signals,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic), Anil Shukla.
At many places, the radars have caught buses plying much above the prescribed speed limit of 40 kmph. “This happens as the speed governors installed in the buses have been tampered with and thus the vehicles are seen plying much above the speed limit. To raise this issue, we have written a letter to the Transport Department recently. A penalty of Rs 2,000 is levied on tampering with the speed governor,” Shukla added.
The ‘know your driver’ initiative directed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) after the gruesome December 16 gang-rape has also lost its value.
In order to make public transport buses safe for commuting, especially for the women passengers, it was directed that every bus should have name card of the driver carrying photo, name and address of the person driving the bus and it should be pasted inside the bus.
However, with the Transport Department not issuing the name cards, the same is not being done.