Coimbatore: A private town bus driver, who was on phone while driving, was told to regulate traffic for six hours at Gandhi statue junction in Pollachi on Thursday. Following the incident, the driver told the rural police that he will never use mobile phone while driving.
K Muruganandam, 28, of Palaniandavr Kovil Street at Mullupadi, is a driver of a private town bus (route number 3 A) which ply from Pollachi – Meenakshipuram and Pollachi – Kizhavanpudur.
On Wednesday around 6.15 pm, with more than 50 people on board, Muruganandam drove the bus towards Kizhavanpudur from Pollachi bus stand. It is said that he often used to speak on the phone while driving. Though, some passengers used to tell him to focus on driving, he never bothered.
However, on Thursday morning, one of the passengers recorded the incident on his phone and sent the footage to the deputy superintendent of police K Krishnamoorthy of Pollachi sub-division.
Subsequently, the bus arrived at the Pollachi town bus stand and a team of police caught Muruganandam. During the inquiry, he denied the allegations. But after the team showed the footage, he accepted that he has been using phone while he was on duty. Later, the police advised him to appear before DSP office in Pollachi at 11am.
“As a driver, he should understand the importance of passengers’ safety. He could easily pay the fine amount and left. But we wanted him not to repeat it, so we decided to depute him at the Gandhi Statue junction in Pollachi to regulate traffic,” DSP Krishnamoorthy explained.
On Thursday around 2 pm, he was deputed at the junction to regulate the traffic. Two traffic cops, who were working in the signal, taught him how to regulate traffic on a busy road. He worked till 8pm.
“The driver has now understood the importance of passengers’ safety. People can approach the police immediately if the drivers use mobile phones while driving,” he said.