The death of 33 bus passengers in collision with an oil tanker near Nooriabad on the Super Highway late on Sunday night has brought into sharper focus the perils of unsafe road travel. The bus driver and his cleaner have, as usual, made good their escape.
According to reports, the speeding bus had hit a stationary oil tanker, carrying a huge quantity of oil, from behind, which caused both the vehicles to turn turtle and burst into flames, with failure of the hydraulic system of bus doors preventing the escape of the passengers. Only those who smashed the windowpanes could crawl out of the raging inferno.
The survivors have informed the police that the driver was visibly drowsy, and despite their protests, had continued to speed on. Two factors could be responsible for the bus hitting the tanker from behind: either the tanker was indeed parked on the road or very close to the roadside, or the driver was too sleepy to notice the presence of tanker.
In either case, it seems to be gross negligence on the part of the driver. However, the real cause/causes of the tragedy will come to light only after the arrest and interrogation of the driver and his cleaner.
The ghastliness of the tragedy has also brought into sharper focus many factors, which could have played a preventive role, the foremost of which is rigorous training and testing of the driving skills of the applicants before each one of them is issued a driving licence.
Unfortunately, however, most of the low-paid, overworked drivers employed by the private sector companies only receive "on-job" training, ie serving first as cleaners, etc. The second criterion that must be ensured is the roadworthiness of the vehicles before they are allowed on the road.
The observance of this condition is all the more important for driving on motorways, because of the higher level of driving skills required there. The licensing procedures need to be made more rigorous. The presence of touts and other "intermediaries," at licensing offices, who can get the "needful" done after paying illegal speed money must be discouraged.
Secondly, the motorway police offices must be provided fire engines and other fire-fighting equipment, which can be speedily taken to the place of the accident, to save lives. The fire tenders had arrived quite late because there is no such facility there. The government needs to make adequate investment by pruning ostentatious spending of public money.
The initiative to cut down the cabinet size, and scrap 550 posts in Punjab that will yield the saving of Rs 6 billion per annum, can generate resources for such public sector projects. Governments in the past have promised to lay a network of roads to enhance farm-to-market connectivity to stimulate economic growth, though precious little has been done on the ground.
The government needs to legislate to make it mandatory for all transporters to employ only properly trained drivers, who will serve only for specific duty-hours, interspersed with suitable rest intervals to keep them free from extreme physical or mental fatigue.
It should be made compulsory for transporters to ensure roadworthiness of the vehicles, through regular replacement of malfunctioning spare-parts. Time-bound replacement of old vehicles too should be made mandatory, facilitated through soft-term loans. It should not be forgotten that modern transport, whether road, rail or air, is the only feature that distinguishes the present space age from the Stone Age.
Transport must, therefore, be given the importance it deserves, for it runs the wheels of the economy. Greater vigilance by traffic or motorway police can help prevent tragedies such as Nooriabad in future. The government should order the establishment of a high-powered commission of inquiry, to be headed by a superior court judge not only to determine causes of the Nooriabad tragedy, but also to issue guidelines for restructuring the transport sector to ensure public safety.