NDTV
Bangalore, Oct 18: Tuesday's accident on the road to Bangalore's airport has sharpened focus on safety on the city's highways.
Two people died and the driver of a bus was arrested on Wednesday as the graph shows a climb in accidents.
In the first nine months of 2006, 60 persons were run down by BMTC buses. In 2005 87 people died in accidents and the number was 98 killed in the year 2004.
"Last year we have booked about 5800 cases against BMTC drivers. Though the number of BMTC vehicles is 4000, we have booked 5800 cases for rash driving," the DCP for traffic in Bangalore, MA Saleem said.
In the first nine months this year 620 people died in road accidents. In 2005 the number stood at 833 and in 2004 it was 903.
"The traffic is horrible, there is not enough public transport, I think there should be more buses, and the metro rail to reduce the other vehciles," a resident of Bangalore said.
Drink driving
A doctor added, "when you see the statistics - the most number of deaths and accidents is on weekends - that's because of drunken driving."
From transport minister to top transport officials are busy travelling on foreign junkets at the taxpayer's expense to check the traffic systems abroad.
The inputs, however, are never transferred to the roads in Bangalore.
There are nearly 30 lac vehicles plying on Bangalore's roads and congestion is a huge problem.
Last week employees at the Electronics City spent the night in their office to avoid a traffic logjam.
"On Hosur Road the traffic congestion is very high, a 14-lane road is coming up there to decongest the traffic," Saleem said.
The twin issues before Bangalore's traffic authorities are: Road safety and decongestion - with over 2400 people killed in the last 33 months - it is clear where the priorities lie.