Mumbai dumper carnage: Heavy vehicles weighing down traffic security

Not only do heavy vehicles like trucks trailers dumpers and multiaxles often instigate traffic problems they are also frequently the culprits in mishaps on city roads and highways The driver of the dumper lost control over his vehicle on JVLR when the brakes failed and the frontright tyre burst The vehicle rammed into auto rickshaws and then hit a couple of people who were having lunch under a tree by the footpath The vehicle veered back on to the main road and struck a host of vehicles causing a massive pileup Senior officials from transport department claim that drivers behind the wheel of trucks lorries etc recurrently drive dangerously The dumper truck that killed two people injured six others and crashed into several vehicles yesterday was not an aberration Other stories on Mumbai dumper carnage Mumbai dumper carnage Eyewitness finds that victims were his long lost relatives Mumbai dumper carnage Treatment for broken leg to cost maid dear Mumbai dumper carnage Mob fury forced me to flee says killer driver Mumbai dumper carnage Pileup lands cabbie in hospital taxi in shed The last collated data is from February 2012 which shows that at least 21 heavy vehicles including lorries dumpers tankers containers and trailers were involved in fatal accidents within the first two months of that year Reckless drivers ldquoThese drivers manoeuvring heavy vehicles are reckless in their approach They just donrsquot bother about smaller automobiles as they know that the chances of their generouslyproportioned conveyances sustaining any damage in a crash are remoterdquo said VN More transport commissioner Despite all the evidence the state government is going slow over the proposal of implementing speed governors in trucks dumpers and buses after certain parties have approached the court Speed governors ensure that these heavy vehicles donrsquot accelerate beyond a limit around 55 kmph thus minimising chances of accidents Speed governors An RTO representative said that a letter has been sent to the Government of India asking it to classify the transports that could be fitted with speed governors Even officers from Mumbai traffic police concede that drivers of heavy vehicles are a nuisance on roads ldquoThese conveyances are not allowed to enter city limits from 8 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 8 pm Also the probability of inadequately maintained vehicles getting involved in accidents is more than for the ones checked regularly We often issue advisories for inspection of automobiles especially during monsoonrdquo said Brijesh Singh additional commissioner of police traffic Some of the vehicles damaged during the mishap PicsKiran Bhalerao Traffic rules Meanwhile experts from the transport industry claim that drivers of trucks lorries etc are usually very young when they enter the profession are impatient and have little respect for traffic rules ldquoThese youngsters donrsquot care about driving appropriately or checking the tyres and overall fitness of the vehiclesrdquo said Nitin Dossa executive chairman of Western India Automobile Association The government and WIAA will soon start a special training institute at Indapur for providing basic driving skills especially on highways Speaking to MiD DAY transport expert Jitendra Gupta said ldquoThe root cause for a majority of accidents on highways and link roads is the rash driving of dumpers The monthly income of drivers and owners of these vehicles depends on the number of trips they make So they are often seen speeding They also frequently drive under the influence of alcohol so traffic department should start a campaign against themrdquo At the Road Safety Fortnight Campaign in January the state government revealed that 68438 vehicle accidents were registered in 2011 in which 13057 people died and 45616 were seriously injuredu00a0