manoj

Chandigarh: You may have heard of runaway brides and grooms. But here’s a different story.
City traffic police had to contend with ‘runaway’ school bus drivers and attendants at an awareness workshop where nine of the 12 participants took to their heels before being put to an efficiency test at the Sector 23 Traffic Park.

The police had organised the workshop in September this year after nearly 1,100 school buses were challaned for overspeeding. Says Children Traffic Park Incharge Ajay Kumar Rana: “Traffic violations by schoolbuses are on the rise. Since these buses have been involved in many fatal accidents in the past, we thought of educating their drivers about road safety norms.

However, the workshop witnessed a very poor response. This despite the fact that we had sought co-operation of all the schools.” Learning their lessons from the September episode, the traffic police officials along with Motor Sports Association president SPS Garcha are now planning to involve a large number of school bus drivers in their awareness campaigns.

“We plan to hold more workshops. For the purpose, we will also rope in the parents. The idea is to ensure strict enforcement of traffic rules and safety of kids,’’ says SP AS Ahlawat. The emphasis is on hiring operators who are skilled enough to manage children, says Manjit Singh Saini, president of Chandigarh School Bus Operators’ Association. Garcha, who is also a traffic advisory committee member, says safety of the children is their prime concern. “We want to ensure that drivers and attendants are competent enough to handle 30-40 children on board. The planned workshop would aim at increasing the competence levels of these men.”

The school authorities too are willing to participate in the endeavour. Says Independent Schools’ Association president DS Bedi: “We want children to reach school and return home safe. We would ensure that our drivers attend all awareness workshops in near future.”

Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com (Chandigarh Edition)
Date Of Publish: 12-Dec-06

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