‘Don’t force bus drivers to work for more than 8 hrs’

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Transport department has warned travel companies that their vehicles permit and fitness certificate will not be renewed if they engage drivers in work for more than eight hours a day.
In the backdrop of increasing road accidents, the Road Safety Commissioner, in a statement on Wednesday, said that tourist taxi and maxi-cab drivers should not drive more than eight hours a day and 48 hours a week. They should be given one-day rest for every seven days, said the statement.

Citing the legal provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 read with the provisions of Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961, the Commissioner instructed the tourist and other transport companies that after completion of first duty, drivers should not be asked to perform the second consecutive duty. They must adhere to legal provisions, he added.

“Annual medical checkup and a valid annual personal accident cover are also essential. If any of the tourist taxi/maxi-cab driver or operators are found violating any of the legal provisions, then action will be taken against driver and the vehicle,”, added the statement.

The licence of the tourist taxi and maxicab drivers would be suspended and the permit and fitness certificate of such vehicles will also not be renewed by the Transport department. A total of 17,218 persons were killed in 2016 and up to October this year, 14,077 killed in road accidents in Tamil Nadu, the statement said.