UPSRTC buses don’t stop after accidents

The day was Thursday; time 11.00 a.m. in the morning. UPSRTC bus number UP-78 AN-3362 was moving at breakneck speed towards Kanpur. Barely about 1 km before the Ajgain Police Station, the bus swerved left to give way to an overtaking truck. Upon coming to the extreme left of the road at high speed, the bus brushed past a cyclist from behind who was thrown off his cycle on to the road. It was his luck alone that the cyclist fell to the left or else he would have been crushed under the rear wheel.
Accidents happen and will continue to happen on roads. But worst is the case when the driver doesn’t bother to stop and seek well-being of the person. The mustached driver in the aforementioned case didn’t stop in spite of protests from passengers en route. Consequently, none of us passengers could know whether the cyclist’s head was smashed into two, whether he was left with a broken hand or leg or whether he escaped unhurt.
The habit of the drivers to consume gutkha while driving too is an invitation to frequent accidents. As the driver pulled up his neck to pour in gutkha from the pouch, the steering wheel turned left. It was his good luck that there was no vehicle close by at that moment. Moreover, such drivers have to spit out time and again; when done while moving, this is an invitation to disaster.
Another invitation to fatal accidents is the stopping of buses right in the middle of the road to offload passengers. Not one or two but several drivers are doing this on regular basis; stopping in the middle of the highways. Consequently, an unsuspecting driver from behind would either bang the bust form behind or hit the passenger getting down in the middle of the fast-moving road and crossing it. All this is happening despite the fact that a sticker ‘savdhani hati durghatna ghati’ stares right at your face from atop the driver’s seat.