[silversteed]

Originally Posted by misguidedmisile

Just read about this Horrifying Accident on OMR at Perungudi. May their souls RIP

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/f...e-otherstories

Though I understand the grief that the families of the deceased students are going through, I have no sympathy for those idiots who travel on the footboard. I have witnessed so many imbeciles who travel very dangerously, clinging onto the side glass panes, sometimes standing on the window panes outside, etc, of the MTC buses. All these heroics even when there's enough space inside the bus. And there is another kind, who run behind the bus for quite some distance, holding onto the railing or window pane, and then leap on to the footboard, or someone's leg, or if there's a door then onto that.

The sad truth is, even after seeing such gory accidents, they won't refrain from these stunts. I pity their families.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I just had a major rant, about the way one site reported the accident, on another thread.

Entirely agree about the footboarding, but kids will be kids, and unless authority, whether it is parental, police or bus company, steps in and stops it --- or buses are all built with doors making it impossible --- it is going to go on. Kids take stupid risks: it is the adult job to control them.

Whilst they must take a share of responsibility for their fate, it must be that the driver and conductor were aware that they were there, and should not have moved the bus to cause risk.

(rider: of course, I wasn't there, and have seen only a one-paragraph, bad report of the incident, so it is easy to talk and easy to be wrong)

~

[Zed]

Originally Posted by Gansan

So many morons do not listen when the conductor tells them not to travel on the foot-board. They turn on him instead. Many years ago, police used to wait at strategic junctions and beat the foot-board wallahs with a latti. They should resume it.

This is a typical knee-jerk reaction. The problem is not that of unruly youngsters. The problem is that our public transport apparatus is unable to cope with the demand. Will a student not taking a public bus on account of overcrowding be permitted to turn up late by any institution? Don't think so.

I recall being forced to stand on the foot-board (not hanging) with my heart pounding dreading an inadvertently push from someone inside the bus.

There may be some that do this for kicks but am sure a vast majority endure these unsafe modes of travel because they have little choice.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Not accusing anybody, but i think Chennai brought in a very good system 3 years back with the deluxe buses getting auto-closing door.

Interesting, to add on, I also observed that most of these doors do not function properly.

Originally Posted by Gansan

So many morons do not listen when the conductor tells them not to travel on the foot-board. They turn on him instead.

+1, and sometimes they show their anger by beating the doors with their hands and making all kinds of noises while the bus is on the move.

Originally Posted by silversteed

I have witnessed so many imbeciles who travel very dangerously, clinging onto the side glass panes, sometimes standing on the window panes outside, etc, of the MTC buses. All these heroics even when there's enough space inside the bus. And there is another kind, who run behind the bus for quite some distance, holding onto the railing or window pane, and then leap on to the footboard, or someone's leg, or if there's a door then onto that.

Well said. But did you observe the reason why? If you notice carefully, the rearmost row of the bus in Chennai MTC (TN also ??) is reserved for women and during rush times you will find this area crowded. These morons try to "impress" some of these by doing such acts.

I used to travel from Chetpet Guruswamy bridge area to KNK road daily through the College road stretch. 29 A,B,C,K were my daily rides. I observed that this running stunt happened 99% of the times during morning when there was huge rush. Sometimes, even if I had a possibility of getting late, I avoided such crowded buses as I believe, it is better to be safe than to be sorry. Also, the kind of nuisance some of these guys make inside is another topic for discussion.

Originally Posted by Zed

The problem is that our public transport apparatus is unable to cope with the demand.

Exactly, firstly there is paucity of bus services, no display of information like (bus timings, frequency, route etc.). Secondly, with whatever little services available, they do not function properly. Sometimes, it is even difficult to find out where the bus stop is ! You must scan a given area to see a crowded place and then decipher if it is a bus stop. This is not just in Chennai, but most places all over India.

Will a student not taking a public bus on account of overcrowding be permitted to turn up late by any institution? Don't think so.

Well, I do not think that is feasible. A recent anecdote which happened with my friend here in Germany (situation classroom)

Professor starts taking attendance for Lab at 10:00 a.m. sharp, one of my friend comes 5 minutes late.

Professor: Du bist 5 Minuten spät. (You are 5 minutes late, with a frown on his face)

Student: Der Bus war 5 Minuten Verspätung. (The bus was 5 minutes late)

Professor: Ach so, lügen ! (Oh, lies !)

My friend did not have any answers, he came back and told us in Hindi "Kya yaar yahan toh yeh jhooth bhi nahin bol sakte" (Guys, this excuse does not work here)

The point here is, the Professor and the student both know there are plenty of bus connections, travel is free for students and mostly they run on time. So excuses do not work.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Attitudes have to change for roads to be safer.

Exactly, you have summed it up pretty well, the attitudes need to change. Everyday when I see people (from 3 -80 + years old) waiting near the zebra crossing, I am amazed. This is all despite knowing that pedestrian has the right of way, the discipline they show must be appreciated. Of course, there are offenders too, but they are in a minority.

Someone has rightly said, there is difference between being literate and being educated, we are still trying to be literate.

Spike

[Zed]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Professor starts taking attendance for Lab at 10:00 a.m. sharp, one of my friend comes 5 minutes late.

Professor: Du bist 5 Minuten spät. (You are 5 minutes late, with a frown on his face)

Student: Der Bus war 5 Minuten Verspätung. (The bus was 5 minutes late)

Professor: Ach so, lügen ! (Oh, lies !)

My friend did not have any answers, he came back and told us in Hindi "Kya yaar yahan toh yeh jhooth bhi nahin bol sakte" (Guys, this excuse does not work here)

The point here is, the Professor and the student both know there are plenty of bus connections, travel is free for students and mostly they run on time. So excuses do not work.
Spike

Not meaning to go off topic, but my experience in Germany has been that a genuine excuse is usually accepted. I guess professors tend to hear excuses on a frequent basis & could be forgiven for tending to be sceptical. Besides there is a general perception (often based on experience) that in our part of the world we tend to be 'just after time'.

Buses and trains do run late from time to time. I was on a regional train to Mannheim to catch an ICE to Frankfurt airport. There was a 7 minute window for switching trains at Mannheim and as luck would have it my train was running 7 minutes late. But here's the amazing part - when I spoke to the ticket checker about my situation she immediately got in touch with the Mannheim 'controller' and confirmed that the ICE would wait until I boarded.

Moral : Its not about things not going wrong its about how these incidents are handled when they occur.

Apologies for meandering away from Chennai.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Kids take stupid risks: it is the adult job to control them.

Whilst they must take a share of responsibility for their fate, it must be that the driver and conductor were aware that they were there, and should not have moved the bus to cause risk.

You have no idea what kind of 'kids' you are talking about here. At the first sign of corrective measure by the conductor or driver, abuses are thrown in vulgar language followed by physical violence and stone throwing. These 'kids' are driven by their heroes on Movies and TVs and think that they can do whatever pleases them. There has been umpteen number of incidents involving fights between the driver/conductor and these 'kids' resulting in blood, damage to property and bus strikes during peak hours thereby putting every road user to hardship. Even the cops have not been spared by these 'kids'. Guess this kind of thing starts at home.

[aravind84]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

You have no idea what kind of 'kids' you are talking about here. At the first sign of corrective measure by the conductor or driver, abuses are thrown in vulgar language followed by physical violence and stone throwing. These 'kids' are driven by their heroes on Movies and TVs and think that they can do whatever pleases them. There has been umpteen number of incidents involving fights between the driver/conductor and these 'kids' resulting in blood, damage to property and bus strikes during peak hours thereby putting every road user to hardship. Even the cops have not been spared by these 'kids'. Guess this kind of thing starts at home.

Absolutely agree to this point. In addition, the best example would be the bus day . The gangs in college go crazy and instead of a celebration they are a nuisance to the public. They cannot be questioned either. The drivers are left with no choice but to drive with mouth shut.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Zed

This is a typical knee-jerk reaction. The problem is not that of unruly youngsters.

Agree perfectly! When the latti lands on the knee, they react with a jerk and run inside the bus! We both know perfectly well which "youngsters" we are talking about, right? Those juvenile ones who are no better than urchins.

[raghu.t.k]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

You have no idea what kind of 'kids' you are talking about here. At the first sign of corrective measure by the conductor or driver, abuses are thrown in vulgar language followed by physical violence and stone throwing. ...
. Even the cops have not been spared by these 'kids'. Guess this kind of thing starts at home.

Absolutely agree. The other reason being that many of these "students" also come in contact with anti-social elements who loiter around the campus, and the clout of the union in some of the "Arts" colleges. I have noticed that the conductors do try to control them, but most of the times the students think its their right to do it. The disturbing trend I have now noticed is this is perculating to the high school/higher secondary level, where students of 10th,11th and 12th try to copy their heros or seniors in college. Add to it some time back, they used to stand on the windows. This was notorious in areas around like nandanam, anna nagar, poonamalle high road, chetpet and triplicane. But am suprised this is now happening on OMR as well.

Originally Posted by Gansan

Agree perfectly! When the latti lands on the knee, they react with a jerk and run inside the bus! We both know perfectly well which "youngsters" we are talking about, right? Those juvenile ones who are no better than urchins.

I think, this was stopped after some accident, where a student fell near vallur-kottam. The cops then gets into trouble from their poltical bosses.

[Zed]

Agreed that some foot-board travellers indulge in this deadly sport for the fun of it. But what about those forced to commute this way as there is simply not enough space inside the bus? Not only do they have to endure the hardship of travelling like sardines in a can but to add insult to injury get punished with a lathi for doing so? Does not seem like a solution to me. Seems like a good way to disguise the problem.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by Zed

Buses and trains do run late from time to time.

Hey, I did not mean everything is perfect here. Of course buses and trains sometimes run late (but no where close to what we have back at home), even Professors come late, but that is not the point I wanted to highlight.

I meant, to make a mistake is fine, but then again trying to sleep over it so that the mistake is repeated; this is something I find difficult to digest. The student in my example will again come late for some other class, but will he change / adapt himself to be on time, every time ? That will depend on his attitude.

The problem in India is, where do we start from?

Spike

[Blue Thunder]

The QUESTION is

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

...The problem in India is, where do we start from? ...

likely ANSWER is ...

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

...Guess this kind of thing starts at home.

[YaeJay]

I have never been hero material, I have had the least experience in any town bus. I was scared of jumping in to a bus and jumping out of it. I opted to cycling 50 plus kms a day to avoid all that.

There are all kinds of students that take the bus these days. Ive seen kids with a real bad attitude. I have also seen kids from similar backgrounds who are responsible.

About time our heros start picking up a empty lays packet thrown on the street and putting it in a dustbin. About time our hero, chasing the most dreaded villan stops his bike/car for the signal while the villain speeds past with his wife/kids/gf/mom/sister/dog etc. how about them quit littering coke cans and throwing of ciggies?

My true Hero would respect atleast a red.

I think it was wrong of the truck to back up
I think the bus as all MTC who never see red was speeding was wrong ( so the arrest was within law)
I think kids will be kids
But, as adults, it gives us more responsibility as to how our kids behave. On us.

And, from what I know, these were supposedly good students etc.


We can all argue with so many angles. That is not the point. Will this stop?

Will MTC buses stop for a red signal? Until then i'd say its their fault!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

You have no idea what kind of 'kids' you are talking about here.

I have some idea --- and I'm not sorry that it comes from the news, rather than direct.

Of course, the ones I know are all good kids. That's always the way, isn't it? But I don't know all that they do when they are not in front of me. Being good kids. Even their parents don't know.

But it has to do with those parents, those teachers, those college authorities. And now, it seems, it has to do with judges and courts too.

In this instance, the direct responsibility is with the driver, and I don't think that can be disputed.

In the wider view, and in my very humble, non-Indian, opinion, death and injury on the roads is the big scandal, dwarfing all the others, which are just to do with mere cash and pockets, like a mountain dwarfs a peanut, but the headlines are always about the peanuts; nobody cares about the mountain.

Will MTC buses stop for a red signal? Until then i'd say its their fault!

And if imposing the law started with the professional drivers out there, whether bus, cab, auto or whatever, it could make a difference.

[misguidedmisile]

Guys, I just crossed YMCA nandanam and our CM is expected to make her presence there sometime soon!! There was a huge police force out there and some major preparations going on at the time. So be prepared for heavy traffic on mount road from cenotaph road signal upto saidapet.
Good day.