Mumbai: BEST buses take a 'deadly' turn in the afternoon

If you are out on the streets in the afternoon it is better to stay as far as possible from a BEST bus A recent survey report by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport BEST has revealed that accidents involving BEST buses have been most fatal in the afternoon ie between 12 noon and 5 pmAs part of its road safety week from March 411 the undertaking carried out a survey of accidents involving its buses starting from financial year 200910 In all 199 deaths have been recorded till January 2015 these include pedestrians passengers other motorists on road etcFrom April 2014 to January 2015 22 people have been killed The year 201011 reported the highest fatalities 47 Most fatalities have been observed between noon and 5 pm 56 deaths 28 per cent have occurred in this time bandSources explained that since there is lesser traffic on roads during these hours drivers tend to speed up and drive rashly thereby causing mishaps Evening peak hours 5 pm to 9 pm came in next with 2513 per cent of the total fatalities taking place between these timesThe reasonsRash driving by BEST drivers is one of the chief reasons for these accidents ldquoDrivers have to maintain their bus schedule and accelerate whenever possible But to keep a check on drivers and their driving records we inspect each bus before it leaves the depot and at the time it arrivesrdquo said A Dudhvadkar chairman BEST CommitteeHowever people on the road are also at fault In the last five years 467 per cent of those dying in such accidents were pedestrians followed by motorcyclists at 2965 per cent Half of this yearrsquos deaths have been of pedestriansBEST officials said most of the deaths of pedestrians were because of jaywalking walking on the road when the signal is red for pedestrians 66 deaths have been due to people coming in contact with a bus ie jaywalking Officials said sometimes people alight from the rear door of the bus and drivers are not able to see themComing in contact with the rear left side of the bus was found to have caused most deaths ldquoThis side of the bus becomes a blind side for bus drivers and actually itrsquos not completely their fault However there are cases of rash driving by BEST bus drivers which also might have contributed to deaths of pedestriansrdquo said Kedar Hombalkar BEST Committee memberBEST buses knocking people down has caused 62 deaths followed by 14 deaths due to motorcycles skidding and coming under or in contact with a BEST busDeath zonesIn terms of an areawise distribution the northern suburbs of Mumbai have seen the most number of deaths BEST in its report has segregated the city into four zones north east west and southThe north zone comprises bus depots of Majas Dindoshi Marol and Santacruz Ghatkopar Mulund Vikhroli Shivaji Nagar and Deonar make up the east zone the west zone is made up of Oshiwara Goregaon Magathane and Malwani depots and the south zone includes Mumbai Central Wadala Worli Colaba and Backbay depotsRecently it also created an additional central zone with depots at Bandra Dharavi Anik Kurla and Pratiksha Nagar Sion These were part of the previous four zones and their death tolls have been included in the respective zones that they were part of earlierThe north zone is the red zone with 72 deaths over the last five years ldquoThese are the areas where jaywalking happens the most People pedestrians and motorists too should follow the traffic rules to prevent such accidentsrdquo added Dudhvadkar The south zone has the least number of fatalities at 35