After a series of bus infernos last year that claimed 52 lives, both involving luxury Volvo buses manufactured by the Swedish bus maker, the Government will be meeting bus manufacturers to make it compulsory for all passenger heavy vehicles to have a mandatory “black box” that records and checks speeds. They will also be asking the manufacturers to make seat belts necessary for all passengers.
A black box is a recording device used in transportation — it records all data relating to the journey, including the speed, time and driving behaviour.
“During the investigation of Volvo crash cases, we noticed that the buses were in high speed at the time of the accidents. Primarily, what we concluded was these buses, particularly those doing long hauls and carrying heavy passenger loads needed to have the speed limiting devices,” said an official from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. “These would put a check on the driver, hence limit crashes,” he said.
The ghastly Volvo accidents had raised questions about safety measures followed by bus operators, as well as the suitability of the European-made buses for Indian conditions led to the Centre conducting detailed study on the cause of accidents and offer handy solutions to put a halt to such freak incidents. Investigations had revealed that while speeding was the cause of accidents, flare up happened as these buses had wooden flooring; inflammable seats and had no emergency exit door.
According to the official, the focus will initially be on Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Maharashtra as luxury buses ply in big numbers and are quite popular for inter-State travel on weekends.
The Roads Ministry has called all the stake holders including the State transport authorities, bus manufacturers next week in Bangalore where these issues will be discussed. The Centre also plans to take up the case of implementing Bus Body Code, which aims to make buses safer by using specified materials.