Hyderabad: Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses are the cause for a majority of road accidents involving heavy vehicles in the city. TSRTC buses fatally collided with 35 persons in 2022, while in 2021 the number of TSRTC bus victims stood at 44. In 2020 – 18 persons were killed in accidents involving buses, showed data from the Hyderabad police.
Overall, a total of 86 persons were killed in Hyderabad in accidents involving heavy vehicles this year. In 2021, heavy vehicles accounted for 84 deaths in the city while in 2020, 55 persons lost their lives the same way. Victims of such road accidents are mostly two-wheeler riders and pedestrians who are hit by the drivers. TSRTC drivers have been blamed for driving negligently on the roads, zooming into bus bays and also for breaking traffic rules.
AV Ranganath, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Hyderabad, told reporters that after an accident, a report is sent to the TSRTC management if a bus is involved. Awareness programs are also being organized by the Hyderabad police for TSRTC bus drivers at state-run Traffic Training Institutes (TTIs) in the city on road safety regularly, he stated.
Recent accidents in Hyderabad
A cursory of recent accidents shows that a majority of victims are pedestrians. On October 31, a 62-year-old man was killed after he was hit by a TSRTC bus at Ameerpet. P Kanaka Raju, the deceased, was a retired head constable, having worked with the Andhra Pradesh police. He was going to a local temple when he was hit by the RTC bus and died on the spot.
Similarly, on October 1, a 37 year-old man died in a road accident at Chandrayangutta after being hit by a TSRTC bus. The victim, Amar Bin Mohammed (37), a resident of Mustafanagar in Falaknuma, was crossing the road when a bus hit him and ran over him. He died on the spot.
On September 5, a biker died in a road accident at Tadban in Bahadurpura after an RTC bus hit him. Syed Shoiebuddin, 20, the decease, was a resident of Falaknuma. He was travelling on a bike from Tadban crossroads towards Bahadurpura when an RTC bus hit the bike on the main road. Shoeib had fallen on the road and received head injuries.
The police said accidents involving TSRTC buses happen due to negligence of drivers or the victims. “There are two reasons for deaths related to buses. It could be due to the fault of the heavy vehicle driver or in cases two-wheeler riders who don’t wear a helmet or pedestrians who fail to assess the bus speed and distance,” said Ranganath.
At the field level, the traffic police are keeping the bus bays clear and barricading the stretch to streamline the queues of passengers. A TSRTC official said regular traffic awareness programs are conducted at all the depots in collaboration with road transport authority
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