INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
PUNE: Bus body designers have demanded a ban on all sleeper buses, describing them as 'moving coffins' in the wake of the Buldhana accident,
which claimed 25 lives on Saturday
Those who died in the accident were on board a sleeper bus from Nagpur to Pune.Ravi Mahendale, who has designed the new look of MSRTC buses,
said, "Sleeper buses allow passengers to lie down, but they offer little space for movement
These buses are usually 8-9 feet tall
So, if they suddenly tip to one side, it becomes impossible for passengers to reach the emergency exit
People trying to rescue from outside face an uphill task, too, as they need to climb 8-9 feet before they can bring out any
passenger."Mahendale said he had written several letters to the ministry of road transport, requesting it to ban production of sleeper buses
"I haven't got any reply till now," he said, adding that barring India and Pakistan, no other country has sleeper buses.Meanwhile, the RTOs
in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad are expected to start a drive for checking the health of private buses
Experts also stressed the need for controlling the speed limit on highways
"The speed limit on the Sumruddhi Mahamarg is 120kmph
But we need to first demonstrate our ability to drive at 100kmph
The government should immediately reduce the speed limit and it can gradually increase it once the number of accidents has gone down
Also, the highway is straight with no turns and there is not much change in landscape
This leads to boredom and sleep, which is a likely cause of the accident," Harshad Abhyankar of Save Pune Traffic Movement, said.
