Call centre vehicles, the main cause for accidents

Call centre vehicles, the main cause for accidents
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Sunday’s incident where a youth was left unattended for hours on the road after he was knocked down from his two-wheeler, has brought to light a late night menace in the city - rash driving by call centre drivers.

While the victim, a call centre employee himself, suspects that the Tata Sumo, which sped away after hitting him, was that of another call centre, many traffic policemen also agree that rash driving by call centre drivers has led to many night accidents. ‘‘Most of the call centres have a single driver to drop and pick up employees in two adjacent shifts, whereas they are supposed to have two. So these drivers have to rush through their trips,’’ pointed out the accident victim, who prefers to travel by his own vehicle.

Tata Sumo and Toyota Qualis, the two mostly used vehicles by call centres, are involved in many minor night accidents, said traffic police. This is more prevalent in the South Division of the city, where most call centres are located, they added.

‘‘At least 15 to 20 call centre drivers get fined in our area during weekend special night checks for dangerous drunk driving,’’ Adugodi traffic inspector S.L. Singhad told this website’s newspaper.

There have been cases where call centre vehicles were involved in fatal accidents in other parts of the city. ‘‘It was a Tata Sumo belonging to a call centre that mowed down Kritika, a college student, early in the morning a couple of months back in Malleswaram,’’ a traffic policeman attached to ACP Traffic (North) office said.

‘‘I want the police to keep a vigil on the call centre vehicles and prevent over-speeding,’’ said the Sunday accident victim, who suffered multiple injuries in the hit-and-run case.