Are High End Buses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

[Rajvel]

sure friends
i personally wish high end buses like volvo , benz are very much dangerous to our country because when we were in the route from chennai to kanyakumari we can see volvo buses doing 120kmph . and they dont care about the cars passing they honk and use their lights at night torturing you and overtaking they dont see whats there in the way and they merely dont want to slow and downshift. so its very much dangerous......

 

[nozzlering]

Interesting topic. I would support the fact that High end buses are not a safety hazard on roads. Instead, bad drivers are.
High end buses are meant for fast and comfortable ride. So they have more power. Its driver should have undergone proper training to handle it. Otherwise any vehicle can be dangerous.

 

[TSIVipul]

Well,guys no doubt that drivers are dangerous.Now they drive them upto 125 kph,which maybe the top speed pf those buses but if the buses are getting involved into accidents then I think the name of buses is spoiling because drivers just say "Out of control" none else.
Ask any biker like me that how it feels when a bus doing 100+ overtakes you,in the car it doesn't feel but on the bike,it has a very special feeling like there is an earthquake on the road.

 

[dharmesh]

Well,guys no doubt that drivers are dangerous.Now they drive them upto 125 kph,which maybe the top speed pf those buses but if the buses are getting involved into accidents then I think the name of buses is spoiling because drivers just say "Out of control" none else.
Ask any biker like me that how it feels when a bus doing 100+ overtakes you,in the car it doesn't feel but on the bike,it has a very special feeling like there is an earthquake on the road.

+10000 to what VIpul said. When I used to drive mainly on my Bajaj Caliber on higways, These fast moving buses would shake my bike when passing by and would shake me till death. So whenever I saw these buses coming, I would take bike to extereme left and allow them to pass by easily or else they will just drive buses dangerously just few inches behind bike and honk and lights. In such conditions faint hearted people are almost half dead.

 

[P3T3R]

I find the statement ridiculous. How can these buses be a safety hazard. The old TATA and Leyland buses and trucks are the real hazard. The drivers are the same for all types of buses and trucks. The Volvo's, Mercedes Benz and MAN trucks and buses are more powerful but have better safety features too. How safe are the old buses with pathetic brakes and non existent lights. That's like saying new cars are a hazard and the Ambassador is a safe car.

 

[nozzlering]

Peter, its not a statement. Its a question put to us.
Be it a Tata bus or a Volvo, or even a Scorpio, the driver makes or spoils the scene.
With better safety features, newer buses are more in control in extreme conditions. If driven well, newer buses are more safe compared to older buses. If all the systems are working well, none of the vehicles can be termed Hazardous.
But we are facing a different problem here. Is it a psychological problem? I feel, yes.

• Having a sense of superiority driving a bigger faster vehicle.
• Getting very near to smaller vehicles from rear and honking.
• Feeling 2 wheelers and pedestrians non existent.
• Ego getting hurt if another vehicle overtakes or tries to overtake.

I feel this is a psychological problem, laced with lack of civic sense, lack of road sense. And it exists at all levels. I wont be surprised if there's a forum for pedestrians, and they have a thread discussing "Are cars and SUVs Hazardous to our safety on road?"

 

[P3T3R]

New technology will come, no matter what. We can resist it because of people's mentality. The drivers need to improve, not the vehicles. Volvo and others have given us the best. We need to phase out the old.

 

[Vishwas]

New technology will come, no matter what. We can resist it because of people's mentality. The drivers need to improve, not the vehicles. Volvo and others have given us the best. We need to phase out the old.

True that Volvo has given the best products, but why to phase out the older ones? Can Volvo be driven in the Ghats or in Bad conditioned roads?

The Volvo's, Mercedes Benz and MAN trucks and buses are more powerful but have better safety features too.

This is where the drivers take undue advantage, think they rule the road,soon someone would raise up the issue.

@MukeshThe maximum speed of Volvo bus is 120kmph.
As far as what I have come across.

They are capable of doing 130+kmph in big roads.

 

[Marun]

As pals say, mentality of the drivers play a major role here.

A huge beast like volvo, merc makes drivers think that they rule the road. They are also a bit lethargic to downshift as and when required. On the other side, I have also seen some drivers who are very cautious and they never exceed 80.

I just got a chance to see the VOLVO B7R dash and the speedometer reading has maximum of 140. I don't think it can do more than 120.

 

[rekharam]

No, they are not dangerous. They are equipped very well.

As mentioned by many, its only the ignorant drivers as well as the ignorant others (cattle crossing on highway, a two wheeler on right lane, a tractor on opposite lane, a car/truck doing 60KMPH on righ lane of highways blocking entire traffic) causes the accident. The buses have nothing to do. Even the low end busses are having accidents frequently.

It is in the blood of us, to blame the higher. If a bike and bicycle meet an accident, people will thrash the motorcycle guy. If the same motor cycle meets an accident with bus, they will thrash the bus driver.

We should judge the drivers who handles these machines. Machines make less mistakes than human at least in our highways.

Drive Safe!

 

[afrose3]

But these buses have an another side too,they are dangerously fast sometimes,the drivers act rogue most of the times like the road is owned by them forcing the others to leave the way for them.There are many instances where you find these buses involved in accidents only because the drivers were doing good 3 digit speeds on such heavy vehicles,so my question is simple:

yes i agree with you , even in hyderabad the rtc has changed all metro busses to volvo and marcopolo (all automatic transmission) and the drivers they are just fools behind the wheel . first of all they dont stop bus near the stop and wont even wait for passengers to get down , most of the time you have to get down while bus is running. and whenthey have to start from stand still they just pound the accelerator like any thing . but thanks to the smooth start mechanism it starts smoothly.
WHAT I SAY IS IF THEY INTRODUCE HIGH END BUSSES THEY SHOULD GIVE PROPER TRAINING TO THE DRIVERS

 

[mukeshus]

True that Volvo has given the best products, but why to phase out the older ones? Can Volvo be driven in the Ghats or in Bad conditioned roads?

They are capable of doing 130+kmph in big roads.

Its impossible Vishwas, the maximum speed limit of Volvo 9400R multi-axle is 120 kmph on the ODO.

Doing 130kmph is not at all possible.

I usually book seat number 3 in order to get a front view and also monitor the drivers ability in handling the vehicle.

As pals say, mentality of the drivers play a major role here.
I just got a chance to see the VOLVO B7R dash and the speedometer reading has maximum of 140. I don't think it can do more than 120.

Same here Marun, Volvo bus can never exceed 120kmph limit.
Recommended top speed from the company itself is 100 kmph.

 

[autosafari]

Dear Vipul boy,

More than the thread title and subject, what I noticed is that this thread is a learning for you.

It says a lot about the power of communication.

Only a few members like Viswas and some others understood in totallity what you meant to say.

Its interesting for young ambitious people like you to analyse and learn from this thread.

{From your posts, I can imagine you as a person aspiring to be a succesful businessman and also there is an eye on politics. Effective communication skill is the most important skill required in both the fields}

Coming to the topic, as most of the members pointed out, its the driver and not the bus that matters here.

These drivers of those hi tech buses are highly skilled and training is not an issue as far as their driving skills are concerned. Its the attitude of some that creates an issue.

These buses has high speed and they are big and heavy. The momentum they attain is enormous and no amount of technology (applied as of now) can rescue a two wheeler or a four wheeler in critical situations. Many incidents which would have reported as near miss cases earlier gets converted to total disasters with these monsters.

OT: Strange are people's ways and thoughts (as a group and not about a particular person).
When they suspect that Vipul is driving fast, they advice him to take care not to harm other road users - those innocents crossing the road at wrong places, errant two wheelers, vehicles on the wrong side, cattle, Jack and Jil.
When these hi tech buses are in question, those innocents suddenly turn to be villains and Buses become angels.

Note: There was a state highway in my place which was very bad for several years. People used to complain and finally government woke up and made it a good road. Now people think that accidents increased because roads are so good now. Whom to blame here Roads or Road users?

 

[P3T3R]

True that Volvo has given the best products, but why to phase out the older ones? Can Volvo be driven in the Ghats or in Bad conditioned roads?

The first Volvo bus was operated by Paulo Travels between Goa and Bangalore. Today there are many Volvo and Mercedes Benz buses plying between Goa and Bangalore and Goa and Mumbai without any problem. They do the trip in a much shorter time than the older buses because they can negotiate the ghats with ease.

 

[rekharam]

When they suspect that Vipul is driving fast, they advice him to take care not to harm other road users - those innocents crossing the road at wrong places, errant two wheelers, vehicles on the wrong side, cattle, Jack and Jil.
When these hi tech buses are in question, those innocents suddenly turn to be villains and Buses become angels.

Note: There was a state highway in my place which was very bad for several years. People used to complain and finally government woke up and made it a good road. Now people think that accidents increased because roads are so good now. Whom to blame here Roads or Road users?

Hi Autosafari,

Sir, below are my humbe opinion.

I didn't get your point. Highways are not definitely meant for cattles, and tractors driving in opposite direction. And no Jack and Jill should use highways to dry their crops or take a walk or jog. Highways are connecting two cities for quicker journey. Why do people wants to walk or stroll on highways?

About two wheelers, drive safely on the left hand side of the road. I know all morons share the same lane with motor bikes wich we should not. But I dislike (Note: I didn't say hate) bikers blocking the right most lane on highways. Other than couple of bikes in India the average speed of bikes are not more than 60 (safe speed). Then why do they want to go in the middle of highway?

I have seen (to my knowledge) this bus drivers driving the buses to their limits. But we can't save people who wants to cross the road without watching either side of the road and fall on the bus. In that case, even there are accidents with cars, bikes and what not.

There is nothing to blame about highend buses. It is the way how you operate and the environment are responsible for the accidents.