[Gansan]

All of you fretting about the safety aspect of Omni, please come to Chennai and have a look at the Share Autos!

[nickatnite]

If Kolkata opts for the Amby over the Omni, then it is simply a choice between the Devil and the Deep Sea. I smell a 'rat' in this decision somewhere.

[ACM]

Am sure there is a political - money angle to it, but the decision is correct, the omni is indeed unsafe.

[PhiGolden]

Originally Posted by pacman2881

But only Maruti Omni's as cabs are unsafe? What about private Omni's?

You can commit suicide but murder is a crime.

[freshseasons]

If omni is banned as a taxi then it must altogether be banned as a vehicle on indian roads.But this will draw all the knives out.Arguably very few cars are safe from the indian stable.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by PhiGolden

You can commit suicide but murder is a crime.

You still have the choice of asking for another car as a taxi

[PhiGolden]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

You still have the choice of asking for another car as a taxi

Point taken .

The customer might not know that he is being taken to the slaughter house.

Same argument is valid in any ban imposed by government for e.g. Narcotics( this is way extreme), where the government does not believe in the ability of the citizen to make an informed decision for himself.

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by PhiGolden

You can commit suicide but murder is a crime.

Thats extremely well said!

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by rpmx1000

@McLaren: Precisely. The only issue here is that, there should be some effort and seriousness towards safety in a country which has close to the highest number of casualties because of road accidents. Let this be debated and let the facts come out.

I appeal to someone to bring out the facts with how much MUL makes on an OMNI. I am pretty sure they make atleast an 80-100% margin. With that kind of revenue, they are still sitting pretty. Why not atleast invest something and bring out a safer product for the same price? It's being done all over the world.Educated customers make a choice. Atleast then they are aware and empowered to take the right buying decisions.

If we want to reduce the number of causalities, then we need to educate the humans who drive and ride on our roads. We know how liscenses are given out RTO. Even if RTO improves right now, what about others who are already driving roughly ?

Banning car will not help in anyway. Its a political move and some money transfer might be involved.

One need not drive a 2 ton SUV to create a havoc, just a nut behind the wheel. In this business nobody is God. Everyone is here to make profit. Let people stop buying the car voluntarily, eventually it will be phased out automatically. But banning a car without particularly defining standards of safety is selfish move.
Lets start acting on root cause of accidents. Its not the ride that initiates a fatal accident, its the rider.

There are no definite standards put up by WB government before Banning Omni. If they had come up with standards like testing a car for head on collosion at 50-60 kmph and then banning a car not meeting requirements, it would make more sense.
If we are talking about safety, lets jump to ENCAP crashratings as developed nations. Are we ready to do that ?

Originally Posted by meghan

I feel this is a totally random move. I think if they are really concerned about safety, they can ban auto rickshaws first and really enforce compulsory seatbelt and helmet laws.
If they want to do this, they might as well ban Omni's entirely, why only as taxis?

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

But if they were so much concerned about safety, why allow private owners to ply the Omni ? Are their lives cheaper than that of the taxi drivers and passengers?
An Omni with a gas cylinder within and with about 15-20 school children seated can be the most dangerous thing on the roads ever!

Well said meghan and anjan_c2007.
The pionts prove that intentions behind these decisions were purely political.

Originally Posted by PhiGolden

You can commit suicide but murder is a crime.

Suicide : Its crime to commit suicide in India, right ?

[n.devdath]

and add many more to what agggoswami said. Makes complete sense. This is just another money making game from a competitor and nothing more.

In fact, like it has been pointed out earlier, let the WB Govt show an example and ban all NCAP non compliant vehicles in the state if they are so concerned about safety on the roads.

[johy]

Is this ban only in Kolkata? Not the rest of WB? Cause there are lots of Omni taxis plying each day to and fro the hills.

[PhiGolden]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Suicide : Its crime to commit suicide in India, right ?

Not anymore. Abetting suicide still is a crime

[SS-Traveller]

Why not have a poll here? Should the Omni be banned, or should it be allowed to compete with auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers in controlling the country's population? Or a third option: Should any vehicle that is instrumental in taking lives be banned (let's go retro - back to the Neanderthal ages!)?

[SkyWalker]

Good to have this ban. I think govt should consider banning all 15 year old models because many (Maruti & HM comes to mind) companies are hellbent on having these old and outdated models until eternity.

[akj53]

Maruti Omni is the unsafest vehicle on road. Its production should be banned altogether through out India.

Granted we have many more idiotic things going on our road which makes our roads unsafe, but that does not mean that Omni alone should not be banned. we have to make a start some where and gradually more steps against other problems can be taken.

Even if some body have paid money for this decision, I would say money well spent. And Maruti cant complain on this point, because they were the biggest beneficiary due to the demise of Nano's Bengal factory and PAL-FIAT's strike which killed the PAL-FIAT-UNO project. Both these cases were bank rolled by some competitor.