Kolkata: Almost 28% of all bus accidents in the city — a total of 261 victims — occur because passengers try to board or alight from the vehicle while it is in motion or has stopped in the middle of the road, said Kolkata Traffic Police on Thursday. The figures are comparable to the high number of accidents where victims fell into the blind spot of the bus driver.
Buses contributed to 14% of all road accidents in the past 1.5 years but had the second-highest number of fatalities and over 5,600 challans for rash driving. Addressing bus drivers and conductors on Friday, the Jorabagan Traffic Guard reminded them that the new SOP proposed to regulate bus movement will see cops push for compulsory left-lane movement of buses. Th-ey also plan prosecutions if buses stop beyond demarcated stops.
"Our analysis shows that several accidents occurred when the passenger lost footing or slipped when trying to get off or board a moving bus. In certain cases, they came under the wheels. Another trend is to get off the bus and come directly in front of it — right in the blind spot of the driver — in an effort to cross the road. We have gathered CCTV footage that proves our point," said an officer.
The records are mostly from private buses. The govt bus records were not available but Kolkata Police's fatal squad has written to West Bengal Transport Corporation for details. Statistically speaking, once truck-induced deaths are calculated — it's around 7% of total vehicles registered in Kolkata responsible for more than half of all the city's fatal deaths — there are around 1.2 lakh registered buses and trucks in Kolkata, the total number of registered vehicles here being around 2 crore.
"The trucks and buses were not involved in too many accidents. But being heavy vehicles, chances of survival become lower once they hit a person. We need to be extra vigilant," an officer said.
The cops — who earlier proposed to the transport department to make a police NOC necessary for buses plying on the roads — claimed that only timely payment of fines can discipline bus drivers. "We have carried out special classes for them and met them multiple times. But only steep fines have worked so far. We are ready to carry out checks along with the transport department if required," another officer said.
"On an average, buses have 100-250 cases pending at most times. With basic fines now raised to Rs 500 under the amended MV Act, and all such fines getting compounded for multiple offences, each fine slapped on buses at present is worth Rs 1,500. Thus, it is only natural that owners will now think twice about paying up," said a traffic guard OC.