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Kerala

Transport authority acts at last Law & order

Cancelling the permits of two stage carriers is expected to curb speeding and reckless driving in the district,
writes Biju Govind.

None will forget the telecast in television channels and the touching pictures that appeared in newspapers of schoolchildren, parents and teachers wailing over the death of Sethuna, 13, of B.E.M. High School at Vadakara on March 5. A private bus ran over the school girl killing her and injuring two of her classmates, K.K. Ashita, 13, and Shena Nasareen, 13. The students of Class VIII were retuning home from school after a special class in the afternoon. They were walking along the pedestrian lane at Vadakara.

Three months ago, at Villiyapally in Vadakara, a stage carrier hit two bike-riders, M. Saddique, 19 and C. Sagir, 19, killing them on the spot.

In both the cases, the police registered cases against the bus operators for rash and reckless driving under various sections of the Motor Vehicles Act. The registration of cases involved in accidents was a usual procedure in the district known for its rising number of accidents. Nearly 1,760 accident cases were registered in the city in 2007.

However the Vadakara Regional Transport Authority, chaired by the District Collector conducted an inquiry on both the incidents. It came to the conclusion that the accident had occurred on account of speeding and rash driving.

Last week the authority cancelled the permit of the two private buses involved in both the accidents. One of the buses was operating service in the Kannur-Kozhikode route, while the other, Vadakara- Mayyannur route. The action, the first to be taken in the State, has been initiated under Section 84 of the Motor Vehicles Act read with Section 84 and Section 153 of Kerala Motor Vehicle Rule.

Regional transport authorities and police say that the decision will help to bring down accidents in the district. It will also have a deterrent affect on private bus operators. Previously bus operators got away with the offence after remitting a penalty.

Now the police and district administration have joined hands to curtail rash driving of private stage carriers and public utility service vehicles, including jeeps and mini lorries. The district administration had earlier decided to impose stringent measures such as cancelling the permit of public stage carriers and driving licences of private vehicle owners booked for speeding.

This decision was taken at a meeting in the first week of January to launch the Road Accident Prevention Programme. Kozhikode City Police Commissioner Balaram Kumar Upadhyay; Vadakara former Superintendent of Police Ramdas Pothen; Additional Divisional Magistrate T. Bhaskaran and Revenue Divisional Officer P.S. Mohammed Sagir took part in the meeting.

Studies conducted by the traffic department had revealed that 99 per cent of accidents had taken place on account of rash driving. Private buses along with two-wheelers were involved in a large number of accidents.

Nearly 348 buses were involved in accidents in the city in 2007.

The police say that the public should not be reluctant to file complaints against the erring private operators. Limited stop buses plying to Kannur, Vadakara, Kuttiyadi, Kasaragod, Manjeri and Malappuram have been found to be violating the maximum speed limit in cities and towns.

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