Police have decided to hold sessions for bus drivers about blind spots while driving their vehicles that often result in accidents.
Next week, officers will pick buses of routes around the Park Circus seven-point crossing and ask drivers to attend a session of around 10 minutes, where speakers will talk about a vehicle’s blind spot and how they can be overcome.
Buses have four blind spots — two on the left and right side of the driver’s cabin, the portion immediately below him and 10ft in the rear section.
“We have observed bus drivers are particularly ignorant about blind spots and often don’t understand why it is necessary not to cross the stop line and stop close to the place demarcated for pedestrian crossovers,” said an officer.
“Next week, we will invite drivers for an awareness session where our officers will explain what blind spots are, how the challenges they pose can be overcome and what’s the best driving practice.”
Several experts said the front danger zone extends 10ft from the front of the bus and is the most dangerous blind spot as the driver cannot see if someone is crossing in front.
The blind spot in the rear zone is also a challenge with drivers unable to see anything between 10-12ft behind the vehicle.
“There have been accidents when pedestrians are trapped between two buses and both drivers have been unable to spot the victim because of lack of awareness of blind spots,” the officer said.
Last February, a cyclist died in Sector V after he came in the blind spot of a private bus when the vehicle had just started moving after dropping passengers at the SDF crossing.
CCTV footage showed the bus was stationary when the cyclist pedalled very close to it from the right side and tried moving to the left. The bus started moving and the cyclist came under the front wheels.
Officers said they would arrange for a short briefing of the bus drivers, where speakers will drive home the point with specific examples for them to realise the importance of blind spots.
The speakers will explain why it is even more difficult for bus drivers to spot blind spots from the top compared to car drivers.
