[topedgemonk]

Originally Posted by NitinGirish

Why have Volvoes then? .

lol.. Volvo's arent here for racing, are they?

Any idiot can floor the accelerator. Its not about how fast the bus can go, its about how much speed most Indian roads can take within safety limits.

[Jay]

Originally Posted by sriturl

I donot remember seeing any seat belts in Volvo when I used to travel before. I have seen seat belts for first row alone in KSTDC volvo. I havent seen any in KSRTC or APSRTC volvos.

Have seen seat belts on a volvo, Raj Travels... Bangy-Mumbai bus. like you have said, i too havent seen any on KSRTC or APSRTC busses.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

My personal experience is that most Volvo buses are driven rashly and this sort of overtaking episode is very common. The drivers are drunk with the power they have under their command. Unless these buses have speed governors, we are not going to solve this problem - gruesome accidents like these will continue to happen.

Fully agree with kumar on this. This was an accident that was waiting to happen & thank God there weren't more casualties. I have also found the volvos to be a little bit like a boat, plenty of sway.

@pypkmsrikanth I didnt mean different rules for both. All I said was private sector road transport has to be regulated. They arent at the moment is my impression.

I am not comfortable with micro managing things. No speed governor=No speed governor, not at 90/100/etc. Its far better to recruit drivers with an aptitude for driving and essentially that would mean somebody with patience.

@topedgemonk Yeah sure, they are not. But why do you assume no speed governors=racing & speed governors= no racing? Havent you seen autorickshaws and other forms of commercial transport vehicles belonging to an ancient era 'racing' in the middle of the road? And please we are talking of tons of metal contraption here. So, if an accident were to happen it will take its toll.

The fundamental solution to this is better regulation, including but not limited to:

1. Driver Recruitment
a- Test for patience, crisis handling & service orientation

2. Financial incentives for the driver for accident/incident free service.

3. Monitoring of number of buses on popular routes and regulation of granting of licenses.

4. Better highway management, including but not limited to highway patrol, emergency services, etc.

If it is argued that this is wishful thinking then I would say nothing is gained without bending your back. And if you say, installing 'speed governors' are easiset way of working round this problem, then I rest my case.

Note from Mod : Formatting tags removed. Please see this thread - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/announ...your-post.html

[muralisk]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

My personal experience is that most Volvo buses are driven rashly and this sort of overtaking episode is very common. The drivers are drunk with the power they have under their command. Unless these buses have speed governors, we are not going to solve this problem - gruesome accidents like these will continue to happen.

I completely agree with hvkumar as I did face the rash Volvo coming straight at me. Apart from having speed governors, which I feel is a short term remedy, I would like to see far stricter implementation of basic laws by police and RTO officials.

When everyone knows that these drivers are drunk, why can't the police/ highway patrol or RTO officials catch them and penalize. If we can implemented some of the most basic laws, we can prevent these fatalities. Also, I think we need to ensure that DLs are given to people with basic minimum education and/ or after rigorous DL tests.

Like in the US, we need laws changed to link the insurance to the traffic offense and only then we can see some change happening. Else, ordinary people will be dying and police and RTO officials will be making money.

[finneyp]

Very strange that the Volvo KSRTC bus took the 2-laned Old Madras Road, one of the most dangerous highway in the country, there is no median and just one lane on both the sides, overtaking is a pain and then Buses/Trucks overtake like mad, with no concern to the smaller vehicles in the opposite side, so either you brake or crash!

I had taken a KSRTC Volvo to Chennai few months back, thankfully, he took the 6 lane median separated Hosur Road (part of Golden Quad).

[discobiscuit]

That is one hell of an accident. Glad you walked out of it in one piece.

[BeamerBoy]

Originally Posted by topedgemonk

lol.. Volvo's arent here for racing, are they?

This is an allegation unless otherwise proved but yes, there is an organized betting activity for Volvos plying between Chandigarh & Delhi. The busses linked to DTC.

[sriturl]

Originally Posted by muralisk

When everyone knows that these drivers are drunk, why can't the police/ highway patrol or RTO officials catch them and penalize. If we can implemented some of the most basic laws, we can prevent these fatalities. Also, I think we need to ensure that DLs are given to people with basic minimum education and/ or after rigorous DL tests.

Like in the US, we need laws changed to link the insurance to the traffic offense and only then we can see some change happening. Else, ordinary people will be dying and police and RTO officials will be making money.

Very much true. There is no enfrcement. We have laws, but no will to enforce them.
Most of the times, the correct offender never gets penalized. Sometimes, sympathy, sometimes bribe, sometimes other factors like influence play role in investigations, and no one ever does a proper investigation including forecnsic and pin down the correct cause. Only then the correct offender is penalized.

Then comes insurance part. If it is known that it is my mistake which caused accident, the other vehicles repair should also be taken care of by my insurance. That will actually put more restraint on bad drivers to run into someone else.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by finneyp

Very strange that the Volvo KSRTC bus took the 2-laned Old Madras Road, one of the most dangerous highway in the country, there is no median and just one lane on both the sides, overtaking is a pain and then Buses/Trucks overtake like mad, with no concern to the smaller vehicles in the opposite side, so either you brake or crash!

I had taken a KSRTC Volvo to Chennai few months back, thankfully, he took the 6 lane median separated Hosur Road (part of Golden Quad).

Almost all the KSRTC buses take the chittoor road. Dont really know why.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Almost all the KSRTC buses take the chittoor road. Dont really know why.

simple answer : that route is shorter.

next question : then why do all private operators come through the longer route via Hosur (even before GQ-quality roads came into existence) ?

simple answer : double the taxes to be paid (to AP as well as TN state governments for the Chittoor route : KSRTC being govt. owned need not worry about this).

Hope that clarifies

.

[zaks]

There should be someway of linking the insurance of KSRTC to pay for these victims instead of govt money. That will improve their behaviour as the premiums raise after each accident.

[Glifford]

Originally Posted by zaks

There should be someway of linking the insurance of KSRTC to pay for these victims instead of govt money. That will improve their behaviour as the premiums raise after each accident.

I am not sure any Govt. money is taken here! How did you get an idea that the Govt was making the compensation payments. One accident among hundreds of thousands of trips will not increase premium significantly for KSRTC!

Besides KSRTC also collects a token amount or Re. 1.00 for the accident relief fund per passenger per ticket across all classes of travel. I guess it goes to this fund!

Take a look at the attached image of a KSRTC e-Ticket where this charge was levied.

[deadguy25]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Almost all the KSRTC buses take the chittoor road. Dont really know why.

The route is shorter. I think there are no toll booths on that route.

[hrag]

There are 2 toll booths on the Chittoor route - after Walajapet, the route is the same to Chennai. The booths are at Channasamudram and Sriperumbudur.