Ride from hell: These kids take it every day

Last week, a 14-year-old lost his life when his auto overturned, injuring eight other children. Although the Supreme Court has laid down guidelines on vehicles carrying schoolchildren, these are overlooked both by schools and parents. A crackdown by the RTO and traffic police led to 4,556 vans and autos booked last year. 2018 has been worse, with over 4,250 offenders booked until August 31, report Nischith N. and Pragna L. Krupa

Seeing autorickshaws overloaded with school children is quite usual in Bengaluru. But last week parents’ worst fears came true when an autorickshaw carrying nine children overturned in Chikkaballapur as the driver swerved to avoid a stray dog and lost control of the vehicle. While eight children were injured, a 14- year- old boy died in the accident.  

The practice, however, continues with children seated on the sidebars of the autos and two others holding on for dear life on the driver’s seat as he zips through the city’s streets with little or no care for their safety. Although the Supreme Court has laid down clear guidelines on the carrying capacity of vehicles ferrying school children, most drivers don’t bother to follow them. Even the parents and the schools themselves don’t seem overly concerned.   

A senior officer of the  Regional Transport Office (RTO), that recently began a special drive in Bengaluru against autos with children stuffed inside them like sardines,  rues that even today, school vehicles carry more than  double the children they are supposed to.  

“We have found that many popular institutions do not follow the norms laid down for school buses or other vehicles carrying children. Under the rules an autorickshaw cannot carry more than four school children, but we find many carrying 10 to 12,” he notes wryly.

Going by the guidelines, an autorickshaw can carry only four children over the age of 12 and five if the children are below 12. While the RTO is clearly aware of the many vehicles violating these rules, it hardly ever  cancels the licenses of the auto drivers concerned. RTO sources admit that no licenses have been cancelled of late although over 300 vehicles were checked across Bengaluru  and around a 100 were found guilty of violating the norms. 

The RTO officer instead prefers to pass the buck on to the parents and the schools saying, “ The problem is most parents don't consider this to be a safety hazard and at times even discontinue the bus service to opt for a van or auto for their children to save money.  Some say they are forced to use private transportation. that school buses don’t ply on all routes. ”   

Mr D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), argues that while overloading  autos is a risk for children, the service must not be stopped as  currently around 20, 000 autos ferry children to schools and back.  “If you stop this, the parents will have no choice but to drop and pick up their children themselves, which will only lead to more traffic congestion,” he warns.

Mr Kumar believes that the cost of school buses often deters parents from using them. "As schools in the central business district of the city charge around Rs 1000 for a distance of 5 kms on a  28 seater- school bus, the RTO and the traffic police did arrange BMTC buses for some schools to transport children. But the parents were unhappy as they didn’t  go to all areas and switched back to autos,” he recalls. 

‘Private autos cheaper than school transport’
Despite the so-called crackdowns by the traffic police and the RTO, the number of autos overloaded with school children only seems to be rising. While the whole of last year the Bengaluru traffic police  booked  4,556 such autos and vans, it has already caught 4,520 of them until August 31 this year. A techie couple, who find it hard to drop and pick up their children from their  schools, say the autos remain their only choice as the school vans charge between Rs. 15,000 to 20,000 for the service although their house is just 2kms from the school. “The private autos offer the same service for much less,” says  Ms Kavitha, mother of their two children. Mr Nagasimha G Rao, director of Child Rights Trust, says most  parents don’t seem to realise that the autos may be cheaper but are an unsafe option. “Nowadays, the autos have modified their seats to allow the children to sit next to the drivers, which is completely unsafe as they can easily fall off and also because it gives the drivers the opportunity to abuse the girls seated next to them,” he observes. Mr Rao notes that as the drivers have their networks, they are  often alerted if there are cops on their route and immediately take a different route to avoid them. “Sometimes when the cops are standing near schools, these auto drivers drop the children a few meters away to avoid being caught,” he says, adding that the only solution is for parents to be alert to their children being crammed into autorickshaws  and  ask the schools to provide more vehicles to ferry them.

Q&A: We will hold special drives and conduct surprise checks: R. Hithendra Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic)
How is the  police ensuring the safety of children being ferried to schools by autorickshaws?
We have directed all the traffic deputy commissioners of police to conduct special drives and do surprise checks on these autorickshaws and vans in their limits to ensure that the children are in safe hands. We are also conducting special awareness programmes for bus and auto drivers  in schools
What action is taken against auto drivers who continue to carry too many children despite warnings?
If they are found guilty of this three times, we recommend that their driving license be suspended to the regional transport office and  keep an eye on the repeat offenders.
But clever drivers avoid the routes manned by the traffic police.
Even if they avoid these routes, they can still be caught during our surprise checks. Moreover, our men are often deployed near the schools and they are eventually  caught if they are found breaking rules.
Has the police  asked the schools to submit their database on school drivers?
No, we don’t maintain a database on school drivers. Instead, we ask the schools to do a proper background check with the law and order police to see if the drivers have any criminal background before hiring them.