Water tanker accidents rise, close to pre-pandemic level

Indiscipline and reckless behaviour of tanker drivers have been a major reason for the accidents, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, East) Kuldeep Kumar Jain said.

Bengaluru: Water tankers crisscrossing the city’s congested roads are once again becoming a major threat for public safety, as the number of accidents they caused until September has exceeded last year’s figures.

In fact, accidents involving water tankers are gradually reaching the pre-Covid numbers.

Until September 2023, water tankers caused 11 fatal accidents and 23 non-fatal ones within the city limits. DH had reported at least one more fatal accident in Haralur Main Road in South Bengaluru. This appears not too far from the 16 fatalities and 23 non-fatal accidents involving water tankers in 2018.

Though the numbers grew alarmingly to 24 fatal and 37 non-fatal accidents in 2019, the figures fell to single digits in 2020 and 2021, thanks to the pandemic-induced lockdown. In 2022, water tankers caused 10 fatal and 19 non-fatal accidents.

Increasing vehicular density and slowing average speeds in the Central Business District (CBD) meant that a large number of accidents involving water tankers happen in the city outskirts, pointed out ADGP Alok Kumar, who previously served as ADGP, Traffic and Road Safety Karnataka.

“Enforcing speed limits on the roads leading outwards would not be easy since traffic police stations in those areas have limited staff. But enforcement in the city can be tighter, thanks to larger police personnel and presence of cameras monitoring vehicular movements,” he said.

Till September, three fatal and two non-fatal accidents were recorded in the Electronics City traffic police station limits, while the numbers were, respectively, two and eight in Whitefield. In all, four fatal and 12 non-fatal accidents happened in East Bengaluru.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, East) Kuldeep Kumar Jain listed out a few possible reasons.

“The city outskirts are developing rapidly and water (is therefore) an essential commodity,” he explained. “Residents (in the outskirts) depend on water tankers in the absence of water sources. We cannot place undue restrictions on the tankers for these reasons.”

Nonetheless, Jain admitted that indiscipline and reckless behaviour of tanker drivers have been a major reason for the accidents.

Traffic police occasionally conduct a drive to examine the tankers’ conditions and verify the drivers’ documents. “(Such drives) are based on need or if we receive more complaints from people regarding tankers,” Jain said.

School boy killed 

The danger posed by rampaging tankers came into focus a month ago when one of them ran over a school boy in Mastenahalli in the city’s southern outskirts.

The deceased Hruday’s brother Vishal had then told DH that several water tankers frequented the area to carry water out of the Hennagara Lake and drove in a rash and reckless manner. “It is very unsafe for people to use the road,” he said.