It is learnt that a 16-year-old girl was injured after she fell from an overcrowded bus at Kundaim. Overcrowding of buses is a grim reality in the state.
This is all the more true with city buses. People are seen standing on the steps of the bus and hanging dangerously.
It is pertinent to note that buses can carry a predetermined number of standing passengers. However this rule is grossly violated in the state.
In a bid to maximize their profit, bus conductors and drivers continue to violate traffic norms by packing their buses beyond their capacity, thereby putting the lives of thousands of passengers at risk every day.
There are several disadvantages of an overcrowded bus. Buses are designed to hold a certain maximum number of passengers. It is difficult to steer the bus and can take longer to stop when the brakes are applied due to the excess weight.
Traffic police personnel who crackdown on various other violations rarely take note of the dangerous overcrowding of buses. With too few private buses plying the roads, overcrowded buses packed with passengers hanging dangerously from the doors is a common sight.
There should be zero tolerance to overcrowding of buses and more buses need to ply along the route.
