KOLKATA: A race between two buses on Thursday claimed the life of a 55-year-old woman at Khanna.
The bus that ran over the victim,
Arati Guha
, was seized by the police. It was found that the bus was running on re-soled tyres and the driver failed to to stop it in time. The incident has again brought to fore the menace of such tyres used by buses in the city.
Guha, who was going to work around 8.15am on Thursday, was in a hurry. When she reached the intersection at Khanna, the traffic lights were red for pedestrians. As traffic was relatively thin at the time, she ignored the signal and attempted to cross the road.
Abhijit Das, a garment seller from the area, said, “She managed to cross the
Maniktala-Khanna
flank on APC Roy Road. However, as she tried to cross the other flank, a 202-route bus ran her over.”
According to the police, two buses — one on route-202 (
Nager Bazar
to
Topsia
) and the other on route-227 (Airport-Garden Reach) — were racing each other on the stretch between Shyambazar and Khanna intersections.
As the signal was green, the two vehicles sped to reach the next bus stop. The driver of the route-202 bus saw the woman trying to cross the road in a hurry, but couldn’t stop the vehicle. The front wheel of the bus ran over her belly.
“Even if the driver had applied emergency brakes, there was no way it could be stopped as its tyres were in a bad shape,” an officer said. Police said the tyres of the bus were worn out and had been re-soled. The treads of the tyre were flattened,” an officer said.
Tread is the portion of the tyre that comes in contact with the road and is responsible for keeping the vehicle stable.
“Both the drivers fled the spot. We are looking for them. The buses were intercepted near Maniktala after a traffic officer on duty chased them. A case has been registered under sections 279 (rash driving on a public way) and 304 A (causing death by negligence),” an officer of Kolkata Police said.
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