Speeding private buses continue to pose a safety threat to motorists on Kochi city roads

Speeding private buses continue to spill blood on the roads of Kochi, with the latest victim being an 18-year-old first-year graduate student on a scooter who was fatally knocked down by a bus near Ernakulam North on a rainy morning last Saturday.

However, unlike in similar accident cases in which the driver usually walks away after being booked with merely bailable charges, in the instant case, the Ernakulam Town North police charged him with culpable homicide amounting to murder and remanded him into judicial custody. This was after he was initially charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 281 (rash or negligent driving or riding on a public way) and 106 (1) (causing death by negligence).

“We found enough ground to invoke the non-bailable charge against the driver in this case after going through evidence like CCTV footage,” said the police sources.

Private bus employees and operators alike cited the unscientific time schedule when allotting bus permits and the bad state of roads for accidents involving private buses.

“The time fixed for crossing each point was fixed three or even four decades ago and hardly reflects the changed state of a city like Kochi and its heavy density of vehicles. Permits along a route are allotted with services separated by a few minutes and even that does not take into consideration the clash of buses from different destinations at common points almost at the same time, leading to unhealthy competition. We welcome the Transport Minister’s statement that no new permit will be allowed within city limits unless separated by five minutes,” said K.B. Suneer, president, Ernakulam Private us Operators’ Association.

He, however, admitted that a section of owners have devised a system whereby they have given the operating rights of buses to employees against the assured payment of a certain amount daily. In such cases, the employees feel compelled to speeding to ensure a minimum return to make that system feasible, he said. Mr. Suneer also urged courts not to intervene when an application for a permit is rejected by the Road Transport Authority Board.

K.C. Chacko, president of the Kerala State Bus Passengers Association, alleged that private buses were operating in the city with scant regard for lives. “Even when the buses don’t actually knock down other road users, the way in which buses are operated leaves them terrified, leading to accidents. I have seen umpteen times when two-wheeler riders and others, petrified by speeding private buses, end up in accidents like falling into drains while trying to evade them,” he said.

A senior Motor Vehicle department official said that while time slots may have to be revised, that is no excuse to kill people through speeding. “A digital platform monitoring the timing through GPS may be launched and issues in timing may be resolved based on that,” he said.