BMTC maps out plan to check road deaths

BMTC maps out plan to check road deaths

Anil Kumar Sastry

BMTC decides to adopt zero tolerance towards road death

Traffic police requested to provide details of killer roads

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), working along with other civic and police agencies, will adopt a three-pronged approach to arrest the increasing deaths on city roads and provide Rs. 1 crore this year to the traffic police to undertake sensitisation programmes for road-users.

Following Tuesday’s accident wherein a BMTC bus mowed down a schoolteacher in Rajajinagar I Block, BMTC authorities had a brain-storming session and decided not only to concentrate on BMTC drivers, but also on road-users to contain the increasing number of road deaths. The corporation has decided to adopt zero tolerance towards road death and work on it.

The first approach involves training 4,000-odd BMTC drivers, whom the corporation has identified as accident-prone with the help of an NGO. They will be offered counselling by psychiatrists and lessons on road safety.

In the second approach, the corporation with the help of the traffic police will identify killer roads and killer spots and deploy only gold medallist drivers on such routes. BMTC managing director Upendra Tripathy told The Hindu that the corporation has already requested the traffic police to provide details of killer roads and spots. There are several areas in the city where accidents frequently happen because of road conditions

“There is no excuse saying that I occupy very less road space, operate just 5,000 buses and am responsible for only 10 per cent of the total road deaths. This is high time that all the agencies concerned adopt zero tolerance towards road accident deaths and work together to bring the numbers to zero,” Mr. Tripathy said.

Regarding haphazard parking on wayside bus stops, Mr. Tripathy said the BMTC did not decide the location of bus stops; it was decided by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and the traffic police.

Their location was rather decided on advertisement potential at busy places. Roads with sufficient space for parking of buses and at convenient locations for commuters should have way-side bus stops, he added.