Coimbatore: The Coimbatore Consumer Voice has petitioned to the District Collector, The Assistant Commissioner of Police (Transport) and the Deputy Commissioner of the Transport Department of Coimbatore district regarding various violations by bus operators including use of cell phones while driving buses and to reassign the seating arrangement, in buses. They have also proposed to alter the seating arrangements in the buses, alleging that drivers tend to chat with women passengers and lose focus, while driving.
Coimbatore: The Coimbatore Consumer Voice has petitioned to the District Collector, The Assistant Commissioner of Police (Transport) and the Deputy Commissioner of the Transport Department of Coimbatore district regarding various violations by bus operators including use of cell phones while driving buses and to reassign the seating arrangement, in buses. They have also proposed to alter the seating arrangements in the buses, alleging that drivers tend to chat with women passengers and lose focus, while driving.
"There are 700 government buses and more than 200 private buses operating buses in Coimbatore. In this scenario, most of the private buses are operated by youngsters, who have scant regard for traffic rules. Hence, they indulge in overspeeding, posing threat to the other motorists on the road and often drive in a way that might cause accidents", they noted in the petition.
The petition also noted that "In order to maintain their time charts, the private buses often race each other on the roads. Seeing drivers use cellphone while driving is a very common phenomenon, these days."
Notably, the petition also pointed at the reckless driving by few drivers due to chatting with women passengers seated on the rear side. Such incidents are more prevalent on routes were there are more colleges like the Avinashi road, Pollachi road and Sakthi road. Drivers chatting with women passengers seated in the front seats is a major issue that leads to reckless driving. Such acts by the driver terrifies the other passengers in the bus who fear the worst.
The petition alleged that all complaints in this regard made to the owners of these bus services, fall on deaf ears, as the owners tend to support the drivers.
Therefore, the Coimbatore Consumer Voice forum has proposed to the concerned officials to make required alterations in seating arrangements in the buses. The petitioners also cited the arrangement in Chennai buses where. women passengers would sit on the left hand side of the bus and male passengers on the right side of the bus and on the seat to the left side of the driver.
The petition also proposed to paste stickers of Transport officer and Police helpline number in multiple places in the buses to facilitate passengers to file complaints against the drivers who violate traffic rules, especially those who indulge in over speeding and use cell phone while driving.