Police on a mission to educate schoolchildren against underage driving

As the number of students using two-wheelers has gone up in U.T., police organise awareness programmes on the need to follow traffic rules

With the use of two-wheelers by those below 18 years becoming highly rampant in Puducherry, the traffic police have launched an awareness programme targeting students at schools in the town and suburbs to educate them on the dangers of riding vehicles without licence. 

The number of under-aged students using two-wheelers has gone up in the recent years posing threat to their own safety and safety of other road users as well. As per information gathered from schools, several students have met with accidents while riding two-wheelers in the recent times, the police said.

Principal of Petit Seminaire Higher Secondary School R. Pascal Raj said recently one of the students studying in Class XI sustained injuries while riding a bike. It was not an isolated incident. “We have prohibited our students from coming to school by two-wheelers. We are not allowing them to park the bike inside our premises and also have been deploying teachers to check whether students are using two-wheelers. Despite our efforts, some students come in two-wheelers, park the vehicles in nearby areas and then walk down to the school. It is the responsibility of the parents to ensure that their wards do not venture out in bikes,” he said. 

Co-founder of Pondy Citizen’s Action Network (PondyCan) Sunaina Mandeen said riding without a licence is dangerous for the child as well for others too. “All must take the blame, as all of us are responsible for leading to a situation where a child without a licence could ride a bike on a public road. First, the parents should be blamed for allowing their ward to ride a bike without proper licence. Police should strictly enforce the law. There is no excuse. Everyone is responsible and must take responsibility to avoid such a situation, she said.

Strict enforcement has its own shortcomings when it comes to catching a school student riding a motorbike, said a traffic police personnel, adding “we should be very careful in enforcing the law while catching a young child riding a two-wheeler. First thing, we should avoid a situation where the student panics and ends up in a mishap,” he said. 

“It has been happening for a long time. The police should have stepped in years ago when the trend started. Once you allow a child to go to school in uniform without getting caught, it becomes a norm. Much of the responsibility lies with the parents,” said an official in the Education Department. 

The new Director General of Police Manoj Kumar Lal has made it clear that enforcing rules and streamlining traffic would be one of his priorities. In a bid to create awareness among students, the police have begun an educational programme starting Tuesday. Superintendent of Police (Traffic), C. Maran, on Thursday addressed the students of Petit Seminaire duringthe school’s morning assembly.