A video of a driver watching video and simultaneously driving a city bus, thereby endangering the lives of passengers is going viral on social media. As per the video footage and photographs making rounds in social media, the driver was reportedly driving a bus operated on 271 A route (Kempe Gowda bus station and Abbigere). The driver was seen changing gears and handling the steering in his left hand while holding a mobile phone to watch the video. A passenger next to the driver's seat has captured the 'reckless' driving on the mobile.
When contacted, MD of BMTC Ekroop Caur said, "A driver is not supposed to use the mobile while driving. The incident will be investigated by the officials and necessary action will be taken."
A police officer said, "Using a mobile while driving is an offence. There are provisions under the rules to impose penalty and also impound the vehicle. Using a phone while driving for conversation or watching video is a serious offence, because the driver is putting the lives of passengers. He also endangers other motorists on the road.
The BMTC officials should initiate action against the driver."
In addition to other traffic offences, BMTC buses were also involved in hundreds of accident cases in the last year. At least 202 buses were involved in accidents and number of accidents reported in 2015-16 was 330. The official said,"There is no doubt that the drivers do their duty in stressful traffic. But they have to abide by traffic rules. Even a small mistake can prove fatal. It is surprising that drivers resort to these things despite being educated on traffic rules by traffic police and BMTC." There are reports that in the last year alone, traffic police had filed over 39,000 cases against BMTC drivers for various offences. As per the rules, the drivers are held responsible for traffic violations they commit on the roads. After receiving the penalty notice, the amount gets detected from the salary of the drivers.
What you can do
Talk to your children regularly: Ask them to be aware of their surroundings and approach the teacher/principal if they notice something amiss
Interact with the school: Ensure that your child's school has enough mechanisms in place to ensure narcotics, e-cigarettes are not reaching it
Force police to act: That narcotics are reaching educational institutions, that too schools, shows that police have completely lost the plot. Put pressure on them in whatever way you can and force them to crack down.
When contacted, MD of BMTC Ekroop Caur said, "A driver is not supposed to use the mobile while driving. The incident will be investigated by the officials and necessary action will be taken."
A police officer said, "Using a mobile while driving is an offence. There are provisions under the rules to impose penalty and also impound the vehicle. Using a phone while driving for conversation or watching video is a serious offence, because the driver is putting the lives of passengers. He also endangers other motorists on the road.
The BMTC officials should initiate action against the driver."
In addition to other traffic offences, BMTC buses were also involved in hundreds of accident cases in the last year. At least 202 buses were involved in accidents and number of accidents reported in 2015-16 was 330. The official said,"There is no doubt that the drivers do their duty in stressful traffic. But they have to abide by traffic rules. Even a small mistake can prove fatal. It is surprising that drivers resort to these things despite being educated on traffic rules by traffic police and BMTC." There are reports that in the last year alone, traffic police had filed over 39,000 cases against BMTC drivers for various offences. As per the rules, the drivers are held responsible for traffic violations they commit on the roads. After receiving the penalty notice, the amount gets detected from the salary of the drivers.
What you can do
Talk to your children regularly: Ask them to be aware of their surroundings and approach the teacher/principal if they notice something amiss
Interact with the school: Ensure that your child's school has enough mechanisms in place to ensure narcotics, e-cigarettes are not reaching it
Force police to act: That narcotics are reaching educational institutions, that too schools, shows that police have completely lost the plot. Put pressure on them in whatever way you can and force them to crack down.