Are High End Buses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

[Sidd7hartha]

In West Bengal I traveled from Asansol to Kolkata by Volvo. I was sitting just behind the driver,so I watched the speed. The maximum was 100 km/hr. I wandered how they avoided cycles,cycle van, hand cart & bullock carts all plying on the highway and maintained speed. Excellent driver no doubt.

 

[Releesh]

There is nothing wrong with the buses or the way they are driven.

I am not sure about other states but If you come to Kerala NH, especially between Thrissur (Mannuthy)to Angamaly( 50km distance) on everyday morning hours between 3am to 9 am, you will agree with me that almost all the comments are worng.
You can see many old Volvo buses running at more than 100 km/hr with heavy thick balck smoke and tracter like engine sound. Some of them you can see the engine in rear side because the rear engine room door is open.

Its just that they are driven by highly experienced people, and that they are much more capable than what an ordinary perceives them to be.

I agree on this, still they are men driving continuesly for many hours without sleep in night and they may be sleepy. Doing over speed and the lights of oncoming traffic make them more tired

And that the speeds they do are never more than 120 anyway.

2-3 years before whn Kerala MVD & police fixed speed radar cams on NH in Kerala, it was a Volvo had the record of top speed 155 km/hr at Alappuzha NH. I read it in newspaper at that time. I am not sure Volvo can achive that speed.

 

[Giftonsamuel]

Though am not criticizing their driving skills or their buses but the other road people are bullied in an inhuman way most of the time .

A pvt Volvo operator running from chennai to trivandrum almost knocked down a pedestrian who had to jump off the road because he was overtaking in the left lane .(at melmaruvathur which has a pilgrimage temple on the NH And this guy never bothered to slow down ).

I have been in Volvo b9r and AL crs (search for IJT travels) that do crazy speeds being inside the bus we can appreciate their driving skills but outside everyone from a poor trucker to a hatchback guy gets bullied .

I have been a victim for their bullying effect both ina car and bike and mostly we were forced to increase our speeds to escape from them.
I am sure that will be the most case of others

 

[Vishwas]

The major thing these volvo bus being driven rashly is because it's handling is very easy and more of a car like, While we cannot blame the drivers completely, it's the duty of the driver to ferry his passengers safe and sound.

I felt these high end buses has got power output more that what is needed in Indian highways which is why these drivers go gaga over other vehicles.

When i take my car/use cab to office in the morning, i see these BMTC volvos taking the whole road and not letting anyone to go in front of them.

Whatever these drivers should be thought a lesson then and there itself. In an incident where the Kallada travels Volvo bus broke AR Ram Octavia's mirror only we can say that these monsters are misused.

 

[shrid]

All the CVs are dangerous. I see many of them daily doing snail speeds in the middle lane (The high-end cars in the fastlane bully them out of the way. This increases lane INdiscipline) and cutting lanes at high speeds. Most of them do not care about rules or lights. What's the last time you almost ran under a truck, going slowly, without tail-lights, or a rickshaw without lights made a sudden turn or stop, which could have resulted in you being beaten up? Back to the point, most bus drivers do not understand the limits of the vehicles. They most probably have not driven a car before hence they cannot compare bus to car. Those who do understand do not care, either way. Sometimes I really want to beat the F out of them. Some T&T agency on the city roads park their buses on the road. If you do not find a traffic jam there, you can be darn sure you are dreaming. Coming from stop to speed, I've seen many buses speeding through ghats. ESPECIALLY when you are going around a blind corner. 2 months back, I told my father the 101th time to honk loudly around the corner. But who's listening? Okay, bye. Nice ranting here.

 

[AMG]

I am not sure about other states but If you come to Kerala NH, especially between Thrissur (Mannuthy)to Angamaly( 50km distance) on everyday morning hours between 3am to 9 am, you will agree with me that almost all the comments are worng.


You can see many old Volvo buses running at more than 100 km/hr with 1) heavy thick balck smoke and tracter like engine sound. Some of them you can see the engine in rear side because the rear engine room door is open.


2) I agree on this, still they are men driving continuesly for many hours without sleep in night and they may be sleepy. Doing over speed and the lights of oncoming traffic make them more tired


2-3 years before whn Kerala MVD & police fixed speed radar cams on NH in Kerala, it was a Volvo had the record of 3) top speed 155 km/hr at Alappuzha NH. I read it in newspaper at that time. I am not sure Volvo can achive that speed.

1) Old buses, with a million miles on them. What do you expect anyway? And yes, Volvo and Merc buses are rear-engined. Whats that got to do with anything?

2) Leave at 11PM at night. Reach destination 500 km away at in about 7 hours. = 6 AM. Go to sleep at 7 AM. Wake up after 8 hours at 3 PM. Take bus back. Again 7 hours. So you have 8 hours sleep. Thats enough.

3) It can. That doesnt mean they do it. I have travelled in a govt. run volvo in which the driver said to his conductor that we will go only at 80 km/hr as the bus gives the best FE at this speed. And the driver was sub-30. Not really old with grey hair either. And how many times have any of you ever driven your vehicles at top speed? Same is with the buses. They have a top speed doesnt mean they do it all the time.

 

[Releesh]

^^
1)I think you didnt read my comments properly which you only mentioned in bold. Thick black smoke and tracter like sound and the engine room door opened or either tied with a coir that too patches all over the body. Is it like this you want to see a luxury bus? Some new buses will make you frightetened with their horrible sound horn in your rear.
2) Do you think is it possible to keep this schedule for all the buses? Some of the buses travelling more than 700 km in single trip(eg:Hyd-cok,Chn-Cok, BLR-TVM) which include many congested cities and state border check posts with bigger line of hevay vehicles. Even though there is more than one driver in the private luxury buses and if they get one day off even between their trips, still we cant tell these drivers driving after a peroper sleep. I had seen many of these drivers using Gutka/liquior to avoid sleep while driving.
3) I agree. But i am telling about the situvation of a state where speed governer is a must and the top speed is limited to 70km/hr for heavy vehicles. Even the speed cameras in NH 4 line roads here will blink if the vehicle touch 100 km/hr or more than only and still some bigger luxuary bus operaters are monthly spending more than 50K rs to 1 lakh to pay over speed charges only.None of the operaters here registering these vehicles in kerala just to avoid our rules and tax.

 

[RamJ]

I too experienced few disturbances (unable to express) whenever Volvo buses overtake my i20 car while speeding @ 80km/hr. Not sure, whether everbody experiences such.

 

[AMG]

Maybe because I havent seen buses in the condition that you talk about I'm not able ti identify what you want to say.

PS: I'm from Punjab and travel routinely between Amritsar and Delhi, ASR to Chandigarh and Chandigarh to Amritsar etc etc, and all the buses are in good condition. Max about 4 years old. Not more.

 

[Releesh]

I guess the roads are better there,So the buses too. Here it is opposite