There’s No One In The Driver’s Seat

In less than a month, six major road crashes involving buses and passenger vehicles – four major ones in Rajasthan, Telangana and Andhra – have claimed at least 70 lives. Last Dec a fatal crash on NH-48 near Jaipur of an LPG tanker carrier and a truck claimed 20 lives.

It was a rare collision and the sheer impact and destruction prompted ministries of road transport and highways, and petroleum and natural gas to announce corrective steps. Similarly, the two recent bus fires in sleeper coach buses in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and Kurnool in Andhra triggered a lot of debate on flouting of regulations and no monitoring of such buses carrying passengers at night.
In each case, govt brass conceded multiple failures.