Are High End Buses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

[TSIVipul]

Hello friends,now a days spotting a high end luxury bus like Volvos and Mercedes etc is not at all a difficult task here are lots of them on our roads and no doubt that these buses have made a great change in our mentality too that buses can never be more comfy and quicker than our cars.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:

• Are these buses hazardous for other road users?
• If yes,then what steps should be taken to make them safe for not only their occupants but for fellow road users too?

Actually this question came into my mind when today i again encountered a speeding Volvo bus from Uttarakhand transport.The driver was really very rogue and dangerous too.
I was doing 110 kph on NH-58 and suddenly I heard a horn and when I saw in RVM I just saw something blue,then i noticed that this is a Volvo bus which is just 6-7 inches behind my car.I accelerated a bit to 120 and kept on moving,again after 1-2 minutes same bus and again dangerously close.He had not left any room for me to brake,if I'd have braked he'd have thrown away my car like 'GULLI-DANDA' so I accelerated,changed the lane,rolled down my window and asked him using hand indication what the hell he wants and he passed away blowing one more horn.I just followed hima nd he was doing about 125-130 kph.

Within last 3 months more than 8 accidents have been done by Volvo/Mercedes buses claiming more than 40 lives and hence local newpapers have already names them like "Yamaraj on wheels","Devils on wheels","Dealers of death" etc etc.Here are 4 accidents about which I remember:-

• Today morning itself a Mercedes bus pushed a Honda City car under a front moving truck killing all three occupants of the City(truck was doing about 60 kph and bus struck the car at about 100 kph).Driver fled the spot.
  
• 3 days back a Volvo bus jumped a divider and landed on a Swift DZire killing the only occupant of the car.Again the bus was doing 100+ speed.
  
• 2 weeks back a Volvo bus tailgated a Santro killing all three elder+on infant occupants of the car.
  
• About a month back a Mercedes bus T-Boned a Mahindra Xylo killing 5 people and seriously injuring 2.

Doesn't these records indicate about extremely rash driving by the bus drivers?

Once even a newspaper wrote that "Volvo company gives special training to drivers,in that training they show the drivers 'fast and the furious' movie all five parts five times,instead of showing them how to drive buses".

@Mods:Kindly fix the misspelling in the title.

 

[Vishwas]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

Vipul, yes these buses have become a menace in the highways, but again it depends on the drivers and their mentality.

In Mysore- Bangalore Highway the Airavat's was a spoilsport for many commuters and the drivers were bullying the lorries to the extent where they had to pull off the road to give those morons to go forward.Thank God now the Speed governors have been fixed so that the speed doesn't exceed 90 kmph.

They always drive like this

In an instance, while we were travelling in a highway(hosur TN), this bus, the most renowned inter-city player tailgates me when i was cautiously overtaking the lorries, this one comes up roaring honking and flashing his lights as if the earth quake happens in his back-end. I don't give him way and block by purpose, he was quite and and when he got a chance he zooms past me without any honk or flash of lights then again he overtakes the trucks and changes lanes without signalling. I got frustrated and rested my hand in the horn, he got frustrated and gave me place, but he was giving competition i did not leave him for 50kms.I wanted him to learn lesson, if not i will make him learn on how to drive.

Even the city buses (Volvo) has rough road manners. I always bully them when i get a chance.

However there are exceptions too, last month, i took a Multi-Axle to Mysore and the Driver drove cautiously and moved in a decent manner.

 

[ss80]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

Even the city buses (Volvo) has rough road manners.

+1 to that. Recently I took a Volvo from Banashankari bus stop to Kalyan nagar (Approx 20kms) they charged 60/- only for a VOLVO AC!

But the bus driver scared everything out of me. I was sitting in the last seat of the bus & with very few passengers the long View (Tail to the dash) was awesome. But the way he was changing lanes, even some of those helmetless RX100 riders (no offence meant to that bike) will be put to shame.

No hand signal, no much honking, occupying two lanes at signals (stopping in such a way that front part is in one lane & rear is in anotherr) that was enough to make me think twice before going close to any one of these on any roads.

On highways, I feel limiting their speeds is not going to make a very big difference to the drivers attitude, their ability to bully others is something that only proper training can rectify.

It is unfortunate that some of the lucky drivers are skilled, over confident & of course careless.

OT: I love the Volvos (Even if they are part of accidents)

 

[mukeshus]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

As far as driver feels that he owns the road, these menaces cannot be stopped.

As far as these buses has to be driven, the drivers are trained by companies for 1 month, only if they pass the driving test conducted by Volvo, they are allowed to drive the bus, with a valid Volvo certified driver.
That is how one driver passed some info , when i was in a Multi Axle bus from Mangalore-Bangalore.

As vishwas said the speed is restricted to 90 kmph in KSRTC Volvo buses.

If they want to overtake you, give way to them.

Don't try to stop them.

 

[Marun]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

Nice topic you have bought in TSIVipul.

By looking at the poll options, I am not sure which one to go with. One side, luxurious ride and the other side with tragic happenings. After reading this thread i just went to Google and typed 'VOLVO accidents in India" and puzzled about the results i got.


Couple of days back in NH 45, one B7R was cruising like anything. I was just shocked by the way it was passing. I had to give way to that guy.

Speed limiters are deployed only in KSRTC buses? what about others? One more thing that pains to me is the way these beasts are maintained. Most of the VOLVOs i see in chennai spits black smokes and hardly cleaned. I also see them running all time even after the trips when in idle.

 

[Username]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

Are the high end buses dangerous?

No, but the drivers of all the buses are dangerous. The high-end buses only make it more dangerous.

 

[singh890]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

Government/Authorities needs to take an initiative and train bus drivers for these kind off high end buses. And the manufacturer should put a speed limitation device in these kind of buses. So that they can not go over a certain speed limit.

 

[TSIVipul]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

The Volvos I have experienced are(not travelling but nightmare they gave to me):-

• Royal cruisers of UP and UKSRTC.
• Rajasthan Transport Jaipur-Haridwar Volvo.
• And even more violent were the light blue buses of Maharashtra SRTC,which I have seen doing 120-130 kph on Mumbai-Pune expressway(two years back).
• And yes,our all time favorite HARYANA ROADWAYS,Ask anyone who has experienced them and you will say "WTF"!!These drivers can compete Volvos with simple Tata buses.And the Delhi-Chandigarh Volvo is better less said.Have a look at this(though video quality is poor but it gives an idea about the speed):-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_cbF3DrPBU

Rest the driver training is really very much essential for these drivers and I say that these drivers must be trained once every year.

• Actually first of all these drivers feel themselves special because they are driving Volvo/Mercedes buses.
• A lot of power rules their heads and hence they become partial mindless as soon as they step on gas.
• Big and heavy vehicle means most of the road users easily get bullied by them and hence they do it even more.

I talked to some people who travel daily on the NH-58 and what I found was that:-
Two Volvo buses,one which crosses Meerut byepass at 8:45 and another one which crosses at 9:15 are most terrifying buses as most of the office goers have already experienced those rogue drivers.
3-4 people have said that "We leave the right lane as soon as we see those buses in our RVMs quite behind us".
Already state transport bus drivers have many times complained that Volvo bus drivers many times risk the lives of them as well as other road users by just entering the nose of their bus in any space available forcing others to push their vehicles down the road.

It looks like some good drivers are eclipsed by some morons behind the wheels of these sophisticated vehicles.No doubt that some drivers are good experienced and well mannered too,but they are in negligible numbers as compared to morons.

 

[raj_5004]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

I will quote Vipul's words over here - "Safety is not in the car/bus. It's in the hands of the driver".

Not all drivers are unsafe. I dont know about Delhi, but here we spot such buses frequently on the Mumbai-Pune E'way. They do drive at high speeds but are not rash, expect some rare cases.

 

[jalex]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

Are they dangerous?

Buses = No
Drivers = Mostly Yes

 

[Crazy cat]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

Multi axles are a real nuisance on highways. They have more power than they can handle. And powerful brakes give its drivers confidence to overspeed. And the horn they have is a set of 6 or 8 air horns, is too loud to hear inside closed car, think about others?


Volvo and Mercedes(buses in general) can do something to limit the speeds to 100 kph.

 

[TSIVipul]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

I will quote Vipul's words over here - "Safety is not in the car/bus. It's in the hands of the driver".

Haha and overdose of power makes the driver go out of mind until the driver has real 'zen' type self control skills.
Overall,90% of drivers become out of mind on the wheel and hence convert the buses into 'devils'.Right?

Not all drivers are unsafe. I dont know about Delhi, but here we spot such buses frequently on the Mumbai-Pune E'way. They do drive at high speeds but are not rash, expect some rare cases.

Isn't driving a 'BUS' at 120-130 kph means rash driving?
I mean a bus doing 130 is like our cars doing 200 kph.And I am sure if I drive a car at 200 kph on Mumbai-Pune E'way then it will be called rash because I'll make a lot of 'rash' moves just to maintain my speed and same is done by those drivers.

Are they dangerous?

Buses = No
Drivers = Mostly Yes

+100,the drivers are 'mostly' dangerous.
Actually many times they do acts like bullying down the cars or even other buses and trucks and this makes them really dangerous.

Multi axles are a real nuisance on highways. They have more power than they can handle. And powerful brakes give its drivers confidence to overspeed. And the horn they have is a set of 6 or 8 air horns, is too loud to hear inside closed car, think about others?


Volvo and Mercedes(buses in general) can do something to limit the speeds to 100 kph.

Not only horns,their projector headlamps are also very strong,once they flash them behind you and you can feel that something blinked in your ORVM even in the daytime.The power is enough for the buses,they are not overpowered but the way the drivers make them move like rag-dolls make them dangerous when its done at 100+ speeds.Only drivers are needed to be trained on a periodical basis just to assure that they are okay driving the buses in some limits not like the beaten animals.

 

[raj_5004]

Re: Are High End Busses Hazardous To Our Safety on Roads?

Isn't driving a 'BUS' at 120-130 kph means rash driving?
I mean a bus doing 130 is like our cars doing 200 kph.And I am sure if I drive a car at 200 kph on Mumbai-Pune E'way then it will be called rash because I'll make a lot of 'rash' moves just to maintain my speed and same is done by those drivers.

Well, I have not seen buses doing 130 kmph but yes, they do drive at 100 kmph and I guess that is a safe speed for Volvos in the Mumbai-Pune E'highway.

 

[dharmesh]

Yes, I have also seen Volvoa/Mercedes busses on many expressway. Some drivers drive at around 100kmph, but some drive like their father is diesing some where and they have to reach there any how, any how means killing some lese also. When you talk about buses driven on highway, the buses driven within mumbai city itself are most dangerous I think so. Again the driver here is culprit.

 

[mukeshus]

The maximum speed of Volvo bus is 120kmph.

As far as what I have come across.