High on wheelies

J&K Traffic Police crackdown on underage driving after tragic accident sparks debate on road safety and parenting.

A tall solitary chinar tree fails to provide a canopy to dozens of people of all ages waiting outside the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Traffic Police’s two-storey building in Srinagar’s Polo View area. There is the buzz of drivers, some agitating and some pleading, all united in asking for their vehicles back. A pick-up truck pulls up, with a full load of seized two-wheelers from nearby locations. Tow-trucks bring in four-wheelers.

The traffic department’s compound is full of vehicles, parked bumper to bumper. With 100-odd people crowding the compound and the 50 or so cars and bikes, only a senior officer’s vehicle can negotiate the drive into the compound now. Official data says that over 1,000 two-wheelers and four-wheelers have been seized by the traffic department just this week. All were from underage drivers across Srinagar.

This unprecedented crackdown was triggered by the death of two Class 11 students in an accident caught on surveillance cameras. The clip shows the boys speeding in a sports utility vehicle, attempting to overtake another car, and then hitting a parked truck. The vehicle turned turtle and the video has disturbing details of what happened thereafter.

On November 15, a day after the tragic accident, millions had viewed the clip on social media in the first 24 hours after it was posted.

The bypass, where the incident took place, is an outer ring road that connects Srinagar with Jammu on one side and Baramulla on the other. The viral video, which shook the Valley, sparked a debate on a range of new issues confronting a society that was once known for its strict, conservative upbringing of children.

The Regional Transport Office (RTO), Srinagar, has cancelled 619 driving licenses, penalised 1,600 violators, and imposed fines amounting to ₹2.22 lakh across the city, after the accident. But beyond the administrative crackdown, the deaths of these two children have thrown up discussions around unplanned urbanisation, parenting, and school discipline in Srinagar.

Muzaffar Ahmad Shah, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar, says parents are often permissive with their children, but social media is also a trigger when it comes to rash driving. Two months ago, the traffic police had counselled the parents of one of the victims of the Tengpora Bypass accident, when he had been caught driving the car. At least 15-20 parents are counselled in such cases every month in Srinagar, officials say.