The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : RTC moves to sensitise ‘erring’ crew

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 10, 2007
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

RTC moves to sensitise ‘erring’ crew

Staff Reporter

VIJAYWADA: The series of sensitisation drives taken up by the Vijayawada region of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) to inculcate a sense of responsibility among its drivers are apparently failing to hit the bull’s eye.

The RTC in the region resorted to novel mechanisms in an attempt to bring down the number of road accidents involving its bus crew by implementing various schemes. But the fact that of the total number of 2,640 drivers, only 630 of them have a clean track record of not being involved in any road accident so far speaks volumes about the state of affairs.

These 630 drivers will now be projected as role models to their peers who will be asked to emulate their style of functioning. “We want others to learn good driving habits from the ones which have not erred,” says RTC Regional Manager M. Seetapathi.

‘Road faults’

The mistakes committed by the bus crew, leading to road accidents have been categorised into ‘human error’ which involves negligence, ‘road faults’ like blind ends, unmanned level crossings or lack of proper visibility of speed-breakers due to growth of bushes on them or ‘external factors’ like sudden appearance of stray cattle on the road.

Referring to the string of fatal road accidents recently, Mr. Seetapathi says they did not involve buses of Krishna district. “Compared to last year, the number of accidents has come down this year,” he asserts citing statistics. Based on a survey, the RTC has made a few significant observations. Ten mishaps occurred between Benz Circle and Gangur, 10 between Benz Circle and Pandit Nehru Bus Station via Krishnalanka and another 10 between the Police Control Room and One Town. The cause of most of these accidents has been attributed to dense vehicular traffic. Other isolated factors like poor visibility of roads due to mist caused by the dust generated due to quarrying activity on the Ibrahimpatnam-Kanchikacharla road have also been contributing to the spurt in accident rate.

Authorities are hoping that suspension of driving licence, deferment of increment and imposing penalty will give good results.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail