How do buses catch fire?

In the past one year at -least 8 buses were burnt to ashes with big casualties of men and women. All of these were luxury air-conditioned buses. Apart from the technical reasons for these accidents there are many more.

1. Speed of the vehicle as passengers want to fly on roads literally.

2. Poor knowledge of road rules and poor skills of the drivers

3. Stress and strain for the crew

4. Poor designs of the buses with no easy exit routes.

5. As per the tradition in India films are shown non-stop and the passengers fail to notice anything amiss

6. Again as per the established tradition here, burning cigarette buds are thrown on the high ways  and when they get crushed under the wheels the sparks flying may  inflame fire on the overheated diesel tanks of vehicles

7. There are no checking points on the way but for the 'motels' and the bus crew normally possesses minimum knowledge of the mechanism of the vehicles

8. The emergency alarms which can detect smoke or the warning bells are non-existing.

9. The vehicles are run non-stop for more than 8 hours at very high speeds increasing the engine temperature very high

10. Poor designing of the roads and poor visibility too add to the woes.   

11. For night journeys every 3 hour the driver has to be changed. Normally a single driver covers an 8 hr.journey. 

12. Drunken drivers are to be punished with severe sentences

13. As in air crafts, safety videos can be shown to the passengers

14. No bus should be allowed to run with berths. 

15. More than the attractive exteriors and interiors, the inner mechanism and safe running of the vehicle is more important than any thing else  

Six die as bus catches fire in Karnataka

Police say at least six people were burned to death and another 12 seriously injured when a bus caught fire in Karnataka. Police official Srinivas Murthy says the injured in the accident early on Wednesday were hospitalised.

Murthy says the fire was caused by a leak in the diesel fuel tank of the bus which carried 29 passengers.

The accident occurred near Davanagere, a village nearly 260 kilometers (160 miles) northwest of Bangalore, the state capital.

More than 110,000 people are killed every year in road accidents across the country, according to police. Bus accidents due to reckless driving, bad roads and poorly maintained vehicles are common in India.

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