[speedsatya]

Seatbelts will cost owners some money ,who find it more appropriate to spend on flashy stickerwork than spend on safety equipment .

The govt can step in here ,and definitely make seat belts compulsory in all buses.

The Volvos and the Mercs are built on true bus chassis' unlike the earlier buses that we had on truck chassis'.Hence these are much safer where the roof doesnt collapse on a rollover .

The pics here and many other Volvo/merc bus accidents that I have seen have only been because of passengers being thrown around .

About passengers not wearing seat belts ,its your own life .I have seen fellow passengers either stare at me ,but at the same time I have seen passengers wear their seat belts the moment they see others wear it .

Just like we have safety belt videos in aircrafts,buses should have educational videos showing how passengers are thrown around inside a bus in the case of an accident !!

[Positron]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

The pics here and many other Volvo/merc bus accidents that I have seen have only been because of passengers being thrown around .

About passengers not wearing seat belts ,its your own life .I have seen fellow passengers either stare at me ,but at the same time I have seen passengers wear their seat belts the moment they see others wear it .

Just like we have safety belt videos in aircrafts,buses should have educational videos showing how passengers are thrown around inside a bus in the case of an accident !!

One unstrapped passenger could do a lot of damage to even those who are strapped into their seat. Seat belts should be made mandatory, and what's the harm in wearing one anyway, it's not like it's getting in your way - you are just sitting down after all.

[LPT2625]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

And take us back to the era when it used to take 4 hours for a 150km journey in rickety old buses ? And while we are at it, why not ban all cars developing more than 50PS and allow sales of only Amby's, M800's & Premier Padminis. No thanks, i will take the current gen Volvos/MB thank you.

What is required is strict driver training and law enforcement on our highways.

I only meant that the engines should be downgraded, not that the quality of body building should be compromised in any way. Coming to bus bodies built by third parties, is any governmental agency involved in certifying them for crash worthiness? And, most importantly, reduction in travel time has been made possible due to four-laning of roads and construction of bypasses, and not due to the introduction of Volvos and Mercedes Benzes. The words "strict" and "law enforcement" do not make any sense in the Indian context because if they were in there in the first place, we would have hardly had any accidents.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Just like we have safety belt videos in aircrafts,buses should have educational videos showing how passengers are thrown around inside a bus in the case of an accident !!

Somehow it seems the life of air passengers carry lot more weight than their counterparts on buses even these luxury buses.

[Zed]

And bus manufacturers can help by introducing low-powered (120-150 hp) with four-speed gearboxes instead of the present six-speed ones.[/quote]

Even a 120-150 bhp bus that has the potential to reach 75 kmph is a potent weapon in the hand of a bad driver. The point really is that there is no solution other than raising the standards of driving in India. Either the private sector or civil society has to take up this cause and deal with it as if it were a killer epidemic. Given the size and complexity of our nation it would take a long, long time for results to fructify that too if a strong movement starts NOW.

[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

As much as I feel sad for the people who died or got injured in that bus, I cannot stop asking myself why do these private volvos/MBs drive rash. With power comes responsibility, someone should have taught them that.

I just did whole night drive from Mumbai to Bangalore. During wee hours my experience was all private bus drivers were driving very good and giving side whenever required. Like VRL Logistics and few others.

But this KSRTC Airavats and NWKRTC (I do not know what is this) bus drivers were driving like crazy. They are literally squeezing their Volvos/Buses to any tiny space from left/right and pushing aside all lane obeying trucks/cars/buses enroute.

Few of the VRL buses were coming with me from last 300 - 400 kms and all of them were driving sanely and within speed limit. but these Airavats (volvos) and governments buses (Rajhamsa) were

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

But this KSRTC Airavats and NWKRTC (I do not know what is this) bus drivers were driving like crazy. They are literally squeezing their Volvos/Buses to any tiny space from left/right and pushing aside all lane obeying trucks/cars/buses enroute.

North Western Karnataka Road Transport C.; I guess these are buses from Belgaum/ Hubli side. these buses are driven quite rash in town too, and I have seen people spitting, throwing things from windows.
Airavats (are these the ones with a picture of a baby pram these days?) are also quite rash in town, perhaps because they are too big to be managed effectively?

[Recompose]

I came across this in today's TOI

Heartless Kolkata leaves bleeding boy to die - Times Of India

Helmets save lives.

[Tejas Ingle]

Originally Posted by amit_mechengg

i have seen seat belts on these buses, volvo and mercedes and also the isuzu. the seat belts are available for the front 4 seats only.

and who says these drivers are not paid good salary?
these drivers are very experienced chaps. no one gives keys of volvos to fresh drivers.

average fixed salary of these people is 14-15k per month.
apart from this for every trip they get bhatta of 300-500 rs.

so summing it up they atleast earn a lowest figure of 40000 to 50000 per month in hand, non taxable.

this is not a salary of an average BE engineer too.

but the kind of torque and power these buses generate these guys feel as if they are the king of the roads and they can smash aside any other vehicles.

but not all drivers are bad. the MSRTC bus drivers i have seen are amazing. so are most of the neeta volvo drivers.
but i have always seen neeta people driving slower than the MSRTC ones


yes and i forgot to add, be it local body builder or very own tata motors. the CMVR norms have a mandate of seat belts for buses as well as trucks.
so they all have seat belts without which RTO passing is not done.

if you check the list of mandate that a school bus should have one will go crazy. but all these are incorporated in a bus.

If all these measures are incorporated in a bus before passing, then where does this stuff go when the bus come to the consumer? Is it removed and installed in some other bus for passing or is it sold in second market? Why arent the seat belts used for their intended purpose? Which authority is responsible for enforcing these safty measures? Presently safety has no value in bus transport.
And I have seen a person pissing at safety.This guy requested the bus driver to atleast slow down if he cant stop on highway because he wanted to have a leak! And he actually did it standing in the door!
Can someone get the related authorities to read this discussion?

Originally Posted by hamza

That's a prado. A friend took the picture a month back on Hyderabad - Bombay highway

How did that SUV manage to squeeze in that tiny space? Did the truck fall from sky? The SUV must have been at a very high speed.

[rajeev k]

Came across this accident involved Ape auto rickshaw yesterday. The driver is injured and the rickshaw has been pushed to the side. Details are not known.

[aalokg]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Seat belts are there, but they are not used. Just last week, I happened to travel to Mumbai by an almost brand new Volvo bus (Shivneri). The seat belts were very much present for all passengers and drivers, but the MSTRC guys had folded them back and put them in the magazine holder on the seat back.

Hey, do you remember the bus reg. no. ? If I am not wrong, only the first row of seats get the seat belts, and those, as you correctly mentioned are all tucked away behind the arm rest!

[W.A.G.7]

Hey, do you remember the bus reg. no. ?

Ummm, no... Except it was almost brand new, with many seats still having plastic on them and shiny blue paint on the outside.

[shyn]

Found this Merc C outside the Jubilee Hills PS

[Sarvodaya]

60 People ( Sixty ) in a Tractor Trolley ??? 41 People died, remaining injured when the trolley overturned.

41 killed as tractor trolley overturns in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district

[funkykar]

Originally Posted by Sarvodaya

60 People ( Sixty ) in a Tractor Trolley ??? 41 People died, remaining injured when the trolley overturned.

41 killed as tractor trolley overturns in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district

This is really very saddening! I guess loading or overloading people like this is very very common in most villages, and mainly places where local transport is very scarce. RIP!