DRUNKEN SCHOOL BUS DRIVER WHITHER CHILDREN’S SAFETY???
Mulund: Parents trust the school authorities and pay enormous school bus fees for their children’s convenience. But, ever wondered how safe is your child on the way to school and back? Well, recently, Mulund Traffic Police arrested a school bus driver for driving under the influence of alcohol, thus exposing how drunken driving continues to be a scourge, violating traffic norms and risking human lives!
On Tuesday, January 29, 2019, a major disaster was averted thanks to the alert Traffic Police who intercepted a school bus driver who was ferrying students under the influence of alcohol. The incident occurred near Mulund West railway station. The accused driver has been identified as Madhav Dattaram Oke (31).
According to reports, the Traffic Police were conducting a routine check near Mulund railway station when they detected a school bus driver under the influence of alcohol. The police immediately arrested him and replaced the errant driver with another driver. The school children were terrified by the incident. When the parents came to know about the ugly incident they were left dazed.
An angry parent lamented, “Drunken driving has become a major threat to human life, but despite the Traffic Police’s warning, motorists continue to violate traffic norms and endanger their own lives of as also the pedestrians’. What is most shocking is that a school bus driver is driving under the influence of alcohol because lives of so many little children are at risk!!” He added, “Just because the government does not have deterrent punishment, drunken driving continues to thrive.”
“Though the government has made a rule that a Didi (lady attendant) should accompany every school bus but, alas, all schools do not obey this rule. It is due to such violations that incidents of rape and molestation by drivers and conductors take place in school buses. Further, checking of any bus driver driving under influence of alcohol also goes unnoticed,” mourned another parent.
Home Times thus urges all parents whose children use school buses to maintain a regular check with the school management about the safety of their children commuting in school buses.
