It couldn't have got more ironic. Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation's (BMTC) Traffic Discipline Enforcement Week began on Saturday with two accidents involving four buses, injuries and a death.

A 26-year-old rider was crushed to death between two BMTC buses on the busy Residency Road around 9.20 a.m. Nagaraj, an attender at St. Joseph's School nearby, was waiting behind a BMTC bus near the traffic signal at Ashirvadam Circle when another BMTC bus came from behind and hit his moped, a car and a two-wheeler.

While Mr. Nagaraj died on the spot, the other rider Syed Imtiaz, a BSNL employee, has been hospitalised with fractures on his legs.

Eyewitnesses said the bus, operating between Marathahalli and Majestic, was speeding. “The victims were trapped between the two buses,” the Ashok Nagar Traffic Police said. “The moped was trapped between the two buses and the rider bled to death,” said Nanditha, a reporter with a local daily who was on another bus.

“Nagaraj was the sole breadwinner of his family: he has a daughter,” said his colleague Mithun.

Hundreds of people gathered at the spot and shouted slogans against the BMTC for not taking measures to prevent accidents.

Bus driver Subbaraju (34), who was arrested, claimed brake failure.

In the afternoon, one of BMTC's Volvo buses screeched to a halt near the BBMP signal, only to be hit by a private bus. Both buses were damaged.

As the unfortunate day progressed, in the evening, two BMTC buses, said to be racing in the heavy rain, collided against each other sideways on the congested Cunningham Road, jamming traffic for more than an hour.

Earlier in the day, Transport Minister R. Ashok, launching BMTC's Traffic Discipline Enforcement Week, said: “Making drivers sensitive to the consequences of breaking traffic rules will help them become disciplined drivers. If every driver is disciplined, traffic problems will reduce by 50 per cent.”

Measures

Measures like lane discipline, parking of buses at the designated spots, proper alighting and boarding of passengers, besides discouraging overtaking at bus stops will be strictly enforced.

BMTC is seeking cooperation from Traffic Police and Transport Department in its drive to make city roads more user-friendly and safe by removing impediments affecting mobility.

Duty

To make the campaign more effective, BMTC has deployed around 300 of its staff along with 400 Home Guards at 150 bus stops across the city on enforcement duty.

Keywords: Bus accident