<p>The sharp rise in drunken driving cases involving school bus drivers in Bengaluru is not merely a traffic violation problem. It exposes thousands of children to unacceptable danger every day. According to Bengaluru Traffic Police, drunken driving cases involving school transport vehicles jumped from 12 in 2023 to 124 in 2024. Though numbers dipped marginally to 111 in 2025, 83 cases have already been registered this year. These are not random late-night offenders, but drivers entrusted with transporting children to school every morning. During surprise inspections around 7 am, police check between 3,500 and 4,000 school vehicles daily and detect more than 30 drivers under the influence: nearly 1% of those tested. In school transport, even one such case is one too many.</p>.<p>What makes the situation particularly concerning is that schools cannot evade accountability by claiming transportation has been outsourced to private contractors. Parents pay substantial transport fees, trusting that the institution has vetted drivers, inspected vehicles, and established safety protocols. Outsourcing a service does not outsource responsibility. When a school logo is painted on a bus, the institution bears moral and legal responsibility for every child inside it. Supreme Court guidelines on school transport stipulate that drivers must hold a valid heavy vehicle licence with at least five years’ experience, and anyone booked even once for drunken driving is disqualified from service. The argument that alcohol traces may stem from the previous night’s drinking offers little comfort. A driver with alcohol still in the bloodstream is impaired to some degree.</p>.<p>The burden of prevention cannot rest entirely on the police, who are already stretched thin managing peak-hour traffic. That responsibility must primarily lie with schools. Every institution should be mandated to conduct breathalyser tests before drivers begin their morning routes – a process neither technologically complex nor prohibitively expensive. That violations continue to rise suggests school managements have done little to address the problem. Stronger punitive action is overdue. Heavy penalties must fall on vehicle suppliers and schools; allowing children to be driven by intoxicated drivers is nothing short of criminal negligence and must be treated as such. Authorities should also name and shame errant institutions, because transparency is often a more powerful deterrent than fines. Parents send their children to school trusting they will return home safely. That trust cannot be surrendered to complacency or regulatory tokenism. The rise in drunken driving among school bus drivers is a warning signal that demands urgent action before a preventable lapse becomes an irreversible catastrophe.</p>
<p>The sharp rise in drunken driving cases involving school bus drivers in Bengaluru is not merely a traffic violation problem. It exposes thousands of children to unacceptable danger every day. According to Bengaluru Traffic Police, drunken driving cases involving school transport vehicles jumped from 12 in 2023 to 124 in 2024. Though numbers dipped marginally to 111 in 2025, 83 cases have already been registered this year. These are not random late-night offenders, but drivers entrusted with transporting children to school every morning. During surprise inspections around 7 am, police check between 3,500 and 4,000 school vehicles daily and detect more than 30 drivers under the influence: nearly 1% of those tested. In school transport, even one such case is one too many.</p>.<p>What makes the situation particularly concerning is that schools cannot evade accountability by claiming transportation has been outsourced to private contractors. Parents pay substantial transport fees, trusting that the institution has vetted drivers, inspected vehicles, and established safety protocols. Outsourcing a service does not outsource responsibility. When a school logo is painted on a bus, the institution bears moral and legal responsibility for every child inside it. Supreme Court guidelines on school transport stipulate that drivers must hold a valid heavy vehicle licence with at least five years’ experience, and anyone booked even once for drunken driving is disqualified from service. The argument that alcohol traces may stem from the previous night’s drinking offers little comfort. A driver with alcohol still in the bloodstream is impaired to some degree.</p>.<p>The burden of prevention cannot rest entirely on the police, who are already stretched thin managing peak-hour traffic. That responsibility must primarily lie with schools. Every institution should be mandated to conduct breathalyser tests before drivers begin their morning routes – a process neither technologically complex nor prohibitively expensive. That violations continue to rise suggests school managements have done little to address the problem. Stronger punitive action is overdue. Heavy penalties must fall on vehicle suppliers and schools; allowing children to be driven by intoxicated drivers is nothing short of criminal negligence and must be treated as such. Authorities should also name and shame errant institutions, because transparency is often a more powerful deterrent than fines. Parents send their children to school trusting they will return home safely. That trust cannot be surrendered to complacency or regulatory tokenism. The rise in drunken driving among school bus drivers is a warning signal that demands urgent action before a preventable lapse becomes an irreversible catastrophe.</p>
