Mangaluru: The decision of the Road Transport Authority and the traffic police to make the vehicles transporting school children tow the guidelines laid down for them, the vehicle drivers and owners have been evidently irked.
                                   Senior RTO, G.S.Hedge stressed on vehicles having school cab permit

Till recently the drivers of private vehicles carrying children, such as autos, and cars used to stash up children like pack of cards. The school bags of the children used to pop out of the jam-packed vehicles.

Last Tuesday eight school children were killed and 12 persons were injured, including the driver of a minivan and his school teacher wife, after a private bus collided with a school van on NH 66 in the coastal Karnataka district of Udupi on Tuesday morning at the Mohadi Cross, near Gangolli.

The eye witnesses said that both the vehicle drivers could have taken precautions and it was speed that had caused lack of judgment in drivers of both the vehicle. ACP Uday Naik said that it was the mistake on the part of school van driver who also erred in judgment, when he took a sudden turn to go into the school gate.

With a view to prevent such accidents in future, authorities concerned have come together to take all precaution and implement rules and law for safe transportation of children to school and back home. Some of the vehicle drivers said, that the amount paid by parents per child is not enough and hence they are forced to take children beyond permissible numbers. Most of the drivers said that they had to pay hefty amount as yearly tax.

G.S.Hedge, incharge Deputy Commissioner of Transport and Senior RTO, Mangaluru suggested that most of them, who have contract carriage permit, should opt for school cab permit. While the tax they have to pay can come down by fifty percent, the vehicles are expected to fix a device which does not allow the vehicle to go beyond 40Kmph.

Hegde said, that all vehicles used in transportation of children to school, should be painted yellow, so that they will have the advantage like an Ambulance or a fire fighter engine being given the way first in case of heavy traffic.

Sunil Kumar Bajal from CPI (M) representing some section of the drivers said that in the name of implementing rules and law the authorities are simply harassing the drivers and this results in the children reaching the school late. If police check the vehicle in the evening, it becomes late for the children to reach home resulting in unnecessary panic among parents. Some of the drivers said, that if the allowable speed is followed, it becomes too late, to reach all the children to their homes and by then parents keep calling the drivers on the mobile, which again affects driving.

J.R. Lobo MLA said, that the authorities should make sure that the vehicle transporting school children should not be detained for long and particularly the vehicle need not be checked while they are on the way to school. The authorities should collect the mobile number of the drivers and call them up later. MLA said that all the driver and owners of the vehicles transporting the children to school should co-operate and follows the law and rule. He also suggested that the school should think of operating their own transportation for which the bank come forward whole heartedly to finance them. If this is done then the private vehicle operators will also take care of following the rules and law if the demand for them comes down, he said.

DDPI said that, a meeting was held on Sunday to put a system in place with regard to the safe transportation of children to school and back home.