HYDERABAD: He attended training classes conducted by the Hyderabad Traffic Police and was challenged more than five times for various traffic violations in the past five years. He was aware of the rule that not more than six children should be carried in an auto-rickshaw.

"But, why would I think an accident would happen to my vehicle," asks Satyanarayana, driver of the auto-rickshaw which fell on its side after hitting a car at Basheerbagh on Thursday killing one of the nine students travelling in it. A resident of Tallagadda, the driver told The Hindu that he had been driving the three-wheeler for the past five years but got the driving license two years ago.

The 25-year-old driver also knew that the police had announced implementation the six-student-per-auto-rickshaw rule strictly from September 1 following the recent death of an LKG student Ritika at St. Ann's school in a road accident. "Several such announcements were made, but were never implemented so I did not take it seriously," he observed.

He firmly believes that accidents will not occur if one `travelled slowly.' Then who was responsible for today's accident? "My vehicle's brakes failed," is all he can say after a long pause. Satyanarayana stated that the police fined him for signal jumping, not possessing the pollution-under-control certificate and other violations but not for allowing passengers to sit beside him.

Did that prompt him to allow the students to sit next to him? "I never encourage children to sit by my side, but the students used to insist," he said. According to him, Suchith Bhargav, who died in the accident at Basheerbagh, used to regularly sit beside him. He remembered Bhargav as a `bright kid' who was always cheerful.

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