‘Despite SC rap, school buses still flouting safety norms’

NEW DELHI: School buses have only changed colour, but not the way they transport children as a large number of them are found flouting all safety guidelines despite directions of the Supreme Court.
Chief of Bureau of Police Research and Development Sudeep Lakhtakia on Monday flagged this concern, saying he often saw drivers of school buses violating norms. “Even now the road to school or back home is not safe,” he said at a conference, stressing on the need for a policy.
According to government data, 10,600 children below the age of 18 years, most of them school-going students, were killed in road accidents in 2016 and the number was little less at 9,400 in 2017. “Data on traffic has been a bear- bug all these years. We need to consider reformating our data collection methodology so that we have a more robust way of registering accidents. Without robust data, we can’t find robust solutions,” Lakhtakia said while speaking at the workshop organised by IRTE, a Delhi-based think tank on road safety issues.
Global experts who gathered in Delhi to prepare a draft policy for government have suggested “doubling” the quantum of fines for offences of speeding, wrongful overtaking, overloading, using phone while driving, jumping traffic signals and drunk driving. They recommended these violations should qualify as ‘dangerous driving’. They further urged the government to come out with a code for rickshaws and e-rickshaws that carry children .