No lessons learnt

Mukesh Tandon in Panipat

In March last year, a speeding car hit an auto-rickshaw on a flyover near Sewah village in Panipat. Four persons, among them a woman, travelling in the auto fell 20 feet below and died. The car driver was a 16-year class X student from a local school. He and his two friends were returning from a party in Murthal. All three were sons of handloom traders from the city.

In January, another such underage driver’s outing went awry. A class XII student, son of a local businessman, out with three friends, rammed his car into a divider. All three were badly injured. The police booked the boy’s father in the case. These two examples could have been eye openers for people in Panipat city, but failed to serve the purpose. Neither parents nor school managements learnt any lessons. Underage drivers are a common sight on roads of the city known for its handloom industry.

You can easily spot students rushing to schools on two-wheelers and using mobile phones. Throwing traffic rules to the wind, they cruise through city roads on their bikes and cars, endangering the pedestrians’ and their own lives.

“The responsibility to check underage driving lies as much with parents and educational institutions as with the traffic police. Parents provide vehicles to their children and these vehicles are parked outside schools. School authorities can’t save their skin by just saying that they do not provide parking facility to students,” says advocate Amit Rahi.

Schools, on the other hand, say parents do not help them in enforcing strictness. Arul Anuroop, manager at Saint Mary’s Convent Senior Secondary School, says they recently identified around 20 students who would come to school on two wheelers. They issued them warnings and asked their parents to come and meet authorities. Only five showed up. He says underage driving is a dangerous thing and the schools can’t do much without parental support.

Satish Chandra, chairman of SD Vidya Mandir School, says they inform parents about the perils of underage driving regularly through SMSes and circulars. “However, they do not seem to bother about it. We have been asked by some parents what is our problem with their children coming to school on two-wheelers,” he says, adding that the onus lies with parents first and enforcement agencies later. The police must deal with both underage drivers and their parents strictly, he says.

Jagdeep Duhan, DSP Traffic, says they are concerned with the problem and have started a special drive in the city to challan teenagers and initiate action against their parents. He says the menace can be curbed only when parents stop providing vehicles to their wards.

What the act says 

Under the Motor Vehicles Act, a violator caught for underage driving can get up to three-month jail term or Rs 500 fine or both.

Chilling facts

In 2017, 1.47 lakh lives were lost on the roads. For Punjab, the figure was 4,278. According to reports, India has the highest number of deaths in the world.