It is common to spot buses, vans or autorickshaws overcrowded with children during school hours, in the city. These vehicles violate numerous traffic rules, putting children's safety at risk. However, this is often overlooked by the authorities.
The Bangalore City Traffic Police (BTP) in August registered 79 cases of vehicles carrying more students than the permitted limit. These figures are only for the yellow-coloured officially registered school buses, however, many private vans and autorickshaws openly flout the rules, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
The guidelines for school buses or vans specify the 1 to 1.5 ratio rule for children below the age of 12 years. If a school bus is 45-seater then it can have only 50 students onboard. However it is seen that not many follow these rules, said police sources.
As per the BTP statistics, 42 cases of rule violation were registered until May, 2023. 1,906 individuals were booked for exceeding the number of children passengers in 2022, and 1,750 cases were recorded in 2021. However, many more vehicles are plying on the road on a regular basis, which goes unrecorded, as they are private entities, the police said.
Srinivas Shenoy Y, Deputy Chief Traffic Warden, BTP, Traffic Warden Organisation told The New Indian Express, “Overloading children in vehicles can be extremely dangerous and life-threatening. Such vehicles have no control over the brakes and risk major accidents. There is also the issue of health and hygiene in the post-COVID era." He added that enforcement agencies need to consistently do surprise checks and not just conduct drives.
Parents in the city opined that the rules and directions are only on paper and the schools can only be held responsible for school-authorised vehicles, not private autos or vans. Shakeel M, President, Voice of Parents said, "It's not like these safety hazards are happening in the dark. Traffic police can be present near schools and fine vehicles as and when they arrive."
Shakeel added that the authorities need to be proactive about child safety.
On the other hand, Shashi Kumar, General Secretary, Karnataka Associated Management of School (KAMS) said only private unaided schools and their buses come under the scanner, "The rules should be equally applied to all."
