A Crackdown on India's Bus Safety Crisis

India's intercity bus network moves millions every night — yet too often the difference between a routine trip and a mass-casualty event comes down to basics that should have been guaranteed: compliant exits, safe wiring, working extinguishers, rested drivers, and real fitness checks.

Recent bus accidents in India

• Jaipur: Two passengers lost their lives after an 11,000 KV high-tension line snapped and fell onto the bus, igniting it.
• Jaisalmer: A private bus caught fire — reportedly an AC short-circuit. The blaze spread rapidly; 20 lives were lost.
• Kurnool: A sleeper bus turned into a fireball after ramming a fallen motorcycle, killing several.
• Telangana: A gravel-loaded truck rammed an RTC bus near Chavella — 19 lives lost.

What keeps going wrong

• Fire & evacuation risk in sleeper / AC coaches

  Electrical short circuits, flammable interiors, and blocked or jammed exits — Jaisalmer 2025 and Buldhana 2023 both saw passengers trapped inside locked compartments.
• Non-compliant body building & unsafe modifications

  AIS-052 Rev.1 (2015) prescribes emergency-door size, placement, fire-retardant interiors and tested wiring. Operators ignore it during post-registration retro-fits.
• Risky operating practices

  Overloading, disabled speed governors, fatigued drivers and faked fitness certificates magnify the harm of even well-built buses.

The standards exist — compliance must catch up

The menace of "custom-built" buses

Many operators buy a chassis from a manufacturer and build the body at unregistered workshops. These home-built or modified buses skip crashworthiness and fire-safety testing, use cheap flammable interiors, ignore electrical load standards and lack certified structural integrity. Only company-built, certified buses should be allowed on Indian roads.

Avoiding safety for profit: the silent killer

• Buses are overbooked with passengers or cargo.
• Fitness tests are faked or avoided through bribes.
• Speed governors are disabled to meet unrealistic schedules.
• Seat belts, fire extinguishers and emergency hammers go missing.
• Untrained or intoxicated drivers run long routes.

What you can do as a passenger

Spot a hazard? Call 1033 (NHAI 24×7) on national highways, use state RTO portals or VAHAN to report, and record photos/videos where safe — bus number, operator, route, time, location.