Noise pollution, unruly behaviour and reckless driving deny the passengers’ right to decent commuting
So much has been written, discussed and debated on the suffering faced by the general public, when they use public transport these days, regretfully, nothing seemed to have caught the attention of the law enforcement and/or any other concerned authorities that are responsible for curbing this continual nuisance and to provide relief to the commuter.
To top it all, the buses that ply, especially on the city roads show little or no mercy to fellow motorists or to pedestrians.
Not a single day has passed without an accident being reported, and that claims lives of innocents or at least cause damage to the human life and limb and leaves him/her maimed for life.
In most cases, schoolchildren, senior citizens, mothers carrying babies, the sick and others are mercilessly knocked down or even run over by these reckless drivers. Several media reports bear witness to these accidents taking place even on zebra or yellow striped pedestrian crossings.
Never-ending yelling of the conductor continues despite being aware that there is no room .... Some buses stop at certain halts unnecessarily and the driver could be seen sticking out his head out of the window looking for the bus that follows him.
Although the traffic Policemen are doing their best to bring a handful of these culprits to book, the majority of them escape under the noses of the cops.
A law is in force prohibiting the use of air horns. But it seems the ban has lost its sting and the drivers continue to toot much louder with no concern to the noise pollution that damages the environment and the stress caused to the public at large.
The commuters who patronise the bus operators are often treated like animals or cargo.
Most of the city-based buses have triple and twin (Three-two) seat rows that give the commuters a nasty experience as the crew board passengers from both front and rear doors. Passengers often seen jostled and squashed between the narrowest space between these rows of seats. The triple seats barely accommodate three grown up adults and the one who is seated at the edge of the aisle has no option but to stick out his/her left leg. This makes the scenario still worse and the already jostling passengers find it very hard to push themselves towards the door if they want to get down.
But the never-ending yelling of the conductor continues despite being aware that there is no room left for further boarding. Some buses stop at certain halts unnecessarily and the driver could be seen sticking out his head out of the window looking for the next bus that follows him.
What a wonderful ‘service’ they provide. Their solitary motive is to get the money from passengers and often the balance is denied with an excuse that they don’t have coins. But they never fail to grab or at times peep into the passengers’ wallets and handbags and demand coins. If not given, the balance safely goes into their pockets...
Sometimes it takes several minutes and once the bus emerges from behind, they start their racing. No concern is showed on alighting commuter and their only aim is to overtake the bus that goes in front and pick as many passengers as they can.
The most irritating experience a commuter could have had is bells/buzzers not functioning and the loud cry to alert the driver/conductor to stop at a halt, often goes unheard due to the loud noise that the four, sometimes six speakers and a woofer produce inside the bus.
When a polite request is made to stop or reduce the volume of these speakers, the conductor pays no heed, but would show harsh behaviour and say to get down and catch another bus, which does not have speakers!
What a wonderful ‘service’ they provide. Their solitary motive is to get the money from passengers and often the balance is denied with an excuse that they don’t have coins. But they never fail to grab or at times peep into the passengers’ wallets and handbags and demand coins. If not given, the balance safely goes into their pockets. During the good old days, the drivers and conductors were so vigilant on passenger movement within the buses. They stopped the buses when a mother had to get in carrying an infant or a small child and found a seat. Also they drove the buses with utmost care ensuring the safety of the pedestrians and fellow motorists.
Despite the fact that the rapid growth of population during the last few decades, successive Governments have been up against the challenge to widen roads to accommodate the alarming increase of vehicles; the law enforcement authorities, the respective Ministries and other statutory bodies should sharpen their teeth to curb the traffic violations that are threateningly increasing these days and the general public should be safeguarded from these elements and from their wrongdoings.
Many countries, especially in the gulf, adopt very stringent traffic laws. Apart from isolated incidents, traffic violations and accidents are minimal. These, according to the prevalent laws, in those countries, the fines and penalties imposed on violators are harsh.
Traffic Policemen maintain a tough law and order impartial to each and every road user and is respected equally with no discriminations shown upon.
We, the Sri Lankans often show leniency and thereby encourage the traffic violators to commit more and more offences on the road.
The drunk drivers escape with a small fine; the motorists who cause fatal accidents too come out of the loopholes in the law by throwing money and some through the blessings of powerful politicians.
These trends should be stopped immediately.
No mercy should be shown to the perpetrators. An upper age limit should be lawfully introduced for people who drive buses, also to ensure that he should possess sufficient experience for the job as the safety and security entirely lie in his hands. Secondly, the drivers who are using mobile phones, while driving should be punished and have his licence cancelled along with the route permit suspended for 14 days at minimum.
During fatal accidents where deaths occur, the driver, the conductor and the owner of that particular bus should be legally made to pay ‘blood money’ similarly as in the gulf countries. Or the current fine that is being imposed should be made more hefty; i.e. the present minimum fine of Rs. 500 should be increased by ten fold and every fine that is designed for traffic offences should be increased to higher proportions. No man would be ready to throw away hard-earned money. But the hefty fines would make him think twice before committing an offence.
By booking a few offenders, filing legal action against them and letting them out through the legal framework, will definitely not help curb traffic offences. Action should be more pragmatic and meaningful, and it is hoped that it would bring tangible results and make the commuters, pedestrians and motorists breathe a sigh of relief.
