Killer on wheels: A bus that fell prey to mob fury after an accident

Vivek Mukherjee,
Address not given

Often bus-drivers try to overtake each other and cause accidents. So, bus-owners, who hire these drivers, should be charged a fine and the drivers punished severely for their misconduct. But in cases where the fault is the victim’s, there is no question of others getting penalised. For any accident, a proper investigation should be carried out before the blame is fixed on anyone.

Stuti Agarwal,
Beleghata

The bus-owner should not be penalised without proper investigation. Accidents are caused due to many reasons. It could be the fault of the victim or the bus-owner or the driver. A sudden technical fault or even ill-maintenance of the vehicle might also have led to the mishap.

Neha Almal,
Howrah

Bus drivers often drive carelessly just to overtake other buses. This has resulted in a sharp rise in the number of road accidents. Asking bus drivers to compensate the victim’s family would surely make the person behind the wheels conscious of his responsibilities and would consequently help in reducing negligence and rash driving.

Sumant Poddar,
Kyd Street

Why should the bus-owner be liable for compensation when the driver is the main culprit? However, it is the owner’s responsibility to assess the driver’s professional skills before trusting him with his vehicle. Besides, details of the driver and his whereabouts should be submitted to the nearby police stations, too.

Pijus Kanti Sarkar,
Narendrapur

Not just the bus-owner but the vehicle-owner should also be liable to compensate the victim(s) if his vehicle is at fault in case of an accident. It is the victim’s family that suffers. For proper treatment of the victim or economic support for his family, the owner of the vehicle should provide monetary help.

Partha Sarathi Majumdar,
Bansdroni

Transporting passengers to their destinations safely is the bus-owner’s responsibility. So he cannot escape his obligation in case of an accident. Instead of destruction of buses by the mob after an accident, appeals should be made to the owner for compensating the victim.

 

Debalina Bose,
Konnagar

Definitely. The bus-owner must compensate the victim(s) if his vehicle causes an accident. This compensation on the part of the bus-owner can only reduce road accidents and make the drivers more conscious.

Hemanta Kumar Dutta,
Shibpur

Sometimes, the victims are also responsible for accidents. Recently, I was witness to a case in which a person was miraculously saved near the Howrah bridge because of a driver’s alertness. Thousands of careless people cross busy roads without paying any attention to signals and the traffic. In case of an accident due to a driver’s fault, bus-owners and drivers should be made to compensate the victims.

Atreya Chakroborty,
Salt Lake

The bus-owner should, on no account, be held responsible, as he is not the person at fault. Moreover, it is unlikely that it would be within his means to make amends for the damage caused. Rather, the driver should be put behind bars.

Rajarshi Ghosh,
Surya Nagar

Though the bus-owner is not directly responsible for the accidents as he is not driving the bus, he should be liable to compensate the victim(s). If this rule is enforced, the bus-owner will be on his toes while selecting the driver.

 

Samita Pal
Kalindi

Bus drivers often break into a frenzied race to overtake each other and lives are lost in the process. A life of a person cannot be compensated by money but if the purse of irresponsible bus-owners is pinched by way of the compensation, it would be some sort of justice. They would probably be more careful.

Rabindralal Nandi,
VIP Road

The bus-owner must compensate the victim(s) for an accident involving his vehicle. Sometimes overcrowding the bus can lead to accidents. Overtaking in accident-prone zones can prove dangerous. Regular training of drivers and conductors must be mandatory.

Sushmita Chatterjee,
Sodepur

Bus-owners should not be held liable to compensate victims. Why should they suffer for the fault of callous bus-drivers? Moreover, drivers are not always responsible for the accidents; sometimes the victims also play a part in it.

Kazi Kamruddin Ahmed Al Maj,
Address not given

Apart from owners of killer buses, owners of trucks involved in fatal accidents should be brought to book. In most cases the drivers flee, leaving the vehicle to be burnt by the mob. I wonder how the transport department issues driving licences to such irresponsible drivers.

Samiran Das,
Duttapukur

Due to corruption in the public vehicle department, bus-owners are getting away with killer vehicles which are taking innocent lives almost daily. Some buses do not have proper fitness certificates. How does our state administration remain so nonchalant about such matters? Compensation should be paid by the bus-owner to the victim(s). If a driver violates the law, he should be severely punished as well.

Prakash Kumar Kahar,
Dum Dum

The bus-owner is liable to compensate the victims if his vehicle causes an accident. Sometimes it has been found that the victims are too poor to afford their treatment charges. As a result, they do not survive.