News
A law unto themselves
Every two minutes a bus driver is booked for a traffic offence somewhere in the country, but drivers are fiercely resisting police attempts to discipline them through a system of instant penalties.
A staggering 173,000 road traffic offences were committed by bus drivers in the first seven months of this year alone, with drivers of private buses being the biggest culprits.
At least four fatal bus accidents were reported in the past two weeks, leaving five people dead and nearly 15 injured.
Racing on the roads: Private buses compete to collect passengers on Dharmapala Mawatha in Colombo. Pic by Nilan Maligaspe
In order to stem this lawless behaviour police issued a circular that the spot-fine system for erring private buses would be scrapped and that all offenders would be hauled before the courts.
The plan was short-lived as the police withdrew the circular following a threat by private bus associations that they would launch an islandwide strike on the grounds that all vehicle users should be treated equally before the law and only bus drivers cannot be penalised.
“We threatened to protest because the traffic laws should be equal to all drivers. Three-wheelers and motorcycles are also responsible for the high number of accidents that are reported and the law should be applicable to them too,” Private Bus Owners Association President Gemunu Wijeratne told the Sunday Times.
“We are regulated by the government but there are regulation flaws that lead to many accidents. For instance, more than 70 per cent of the bus 
halts do not have parking bays,” Mr. Wijeratne said.
But a senior police officer said although the circular has been withdrawn, law enforcement authorities hope to come up with a fresh circular whereby offending bus drivers would be hauled off to courts on traffic violations that are specific to passenger transport vehicles.
He said bus drivers who stop for passengers away from the bus halt zone, those who race other buses in a competition to pick up the most passengers and those who let passengers ride on footboards would be among the offenders to be referred directly to court.
There are more than 21,000 private buses and 3000 state-run buses. According to police statistics from January 1 to July 31 this year, private bus drivers committed nearly 149,000 traffic offences and state-run bus drivers almost 24,000 offences.
A total of 3944 violations concerned buses operating without insurance and revenue licence – a major concern in cases of accident compensation and finding an ownership structure that could be held responsible for faults.
There were 2,733 cases of dangerous and negligent driving cases, 2,260 speeding offences, 367 drunk-driving arrests and 2,117 cases of unauthorised parking or stopping away from bus halts.
Traffic experts say that many offences committed by private bus drivers go undetected and that problem on the roads is much worse than official figures indicate.
As the police contemplate methods of dealing with private bus drivers, passengers and motorists continue to undergo harrowing experiences at the hands of these drivers.
Early on Monday a 20-year-old was killed in a bus accident in the Achchuveli area in Jaffna. The bus, heading to Colombo from Manipay, toppled due to speeding, killing the youth and leaving ten others injured who were taken to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital for tteatment.
A 54-year-old man from Baduragoda, K.K. Ranaweera, was knocked down by a private bus as he attempted to cross a road on September 3. The bus driver was arrested.
On September 4, a woman succumbed to injuries sustained when a private bus took off at high speed as she was attempting to alight from the vehicle at Ilukwatte, Kandy. The dead woman, 56-year-old Jenul Aabdeen, was a resident of Polgolla in Hinguloya.
In a separate incident a three-year-old boy and his 27-year-old father died when the motorcycle they were travelling on collided with a private bus in Ganethenna, Mawanella. The incident left the mother and daughter who were also travelling on the motorcycle critically injured. The bus driver was remanded by police.
Passengers say they have complained to the authorities about the behaviour of bus drivers, particularly those from private companies, but saw little improvement in the situation.
“The private bus service is worse compared to state-run ones. They do not know how to talk to people or show the least bit of humane treatment to passengers,” said retired World Bank employee 57-year-old S. Alwis, from Panadura. He had written to the relevant ministry but said it had not paid any heed.
“Now I prefer to travel in trains,” he said.
P.N Lakshani, 27, who is employed at the University of Visual and Performing Arts and is pregnant with her first baby, said bus drivers paid no consideration to pregnant women passengers who risked harm to their unborn babies as buses went at high speed and suddenly braked to scoop up passengers.
“I take three buses to work. Travelling is the worst time in my day’s schedule. They are sometimes very slow and at times extremely fast. I’m a little short so I can’t reach up to the pole to hold on when the bus is packed and speeding,” said 22-year-old Sahini Kavishya who works at a salon in Nugegoda.
R. M. C. Ratnayake, 26, from Dambulla said bus conductors even scolded commuters for asking for change when issuing tickets.
“Sometimes these unpleasant encounters ruin the whole day. Then there is the competition between bus drivers. The drivers even stop in the middle of the road and ask us to get off because of this. They do not even give us time to look if other vehicles are coming that way,” he said.
In two separate incidents when buses took off at a high, 24-year-old Darshani Perera from suffered a broken nose and finger. She did not file charges as she had been travelling alone. Darshani now fears travelling in buses.
Motorists dread sharing the roads with law-breaking buses.
Dharshana Vidanapathirana, 32, an executive in a private firm said his car was damaged when a private bus came from the wrong side of the road and crashed into his vehicle at Kotahena. “I was lucky that I escaped unhurt but my vehicle was damaged . I had to get my vehicle repaired through my own insurance as the driver was not willing to pay for the damage. He said I could go to the police if I wanted but I was not prepared to go to police and then to court as all that takes time.”
Chandraratne Perera from Kotte said private bus drivers consistently ignored road rules and signs if they knew police were not present.
“The situation is bad on the High Level Road as there are so many buses plying this road,” he said. It is difficult near junctions as buses always try to overtake other vehicles in order to pick up more passengers. The police should be more strict with such drivers,” he said .
Former deputy inspector-general of police Camillus Abeygunawardena said that in the1990s a five-member commission of which he had been a member, proposed a plan to tackle violations of road laws but only parts of it, including the demerit point system, had been implemented.
“Since the inception of private buses they haven’t shown consideration to other drivers. In late 1991 we deployed police in civilian clothes to ride on buses and be on the look-out for traffic offenders. They would give information to other police officials in uniform who would catch the offenders,” he said.
“We even got the help of the media over this. The bus drivers protested but it was a successful project. This type of law enforcement is necessary to reduce the accidents taking place. We have enough laws but they have to be implemented in the right way,” he said.
National Transport Commission (NTC) Chairman Renuka Perera said the NTC would next year introduce a special exam for bus drivers who would, on passing, be issued with a Public Transport Licence.
“All bus drivers will need to have this licence,” he said.