Teenager’s death in Kochi puts underage driving back in the spotlight

Teenage motorbike accident brings attention to dangers of underage driving. Enforcement of norms against underage driving needs ground-level presence of personnel.

The recent motorbike accident at Cheranalloor in which a 15-year-old student died and another student who was driving the bike was injured has brought attention to the dangers of underage driving once again.

The teenager’s death was reported on the same day that the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court here imposed a fine of ₹34,000 and awarded a day’s imprisonment to a motorbike owner, on charge that he willingly handed over the bike to his minor brother for driving. The bike owner, Roshan of Aluva, will not be able to drive a bike for another three months since his licence stands suspended for the period. The bike’s registration certificate has also been suspended for a year. The fine includes ₹2,000 for not displaying registration number and ₹1,000 for not having indicator and mirror. The minor biker was intercepted by a team of the Motor Vehicles department (MVD) led by Motor Vehicle Inspector P.S. Jayaraj during a special drive conducted at Aluva in April.

In a similar incident in Thrissur, a woman who was found riding ‘triple’ on a two-wheeler with two minors was slapped with a fine of ₹25,000. She was also sentenced to imprisonment till the rising of the court since her son reportedly confided to enforcement personnel that she had consented to the vehicle being driven by him. She would have to undergo five days’ imprisonment if she failed to remit the fine, since the vehicle was registered in her name. The vehicle was intercepted by MVD personnel in January, near Mannuthy.

Most such underage riders do not wear helmets and hide the registration number of their two-wheelers. They also have components that are illegally retrofitted in the vehicles, to catch the attention of other road users or to scare them with noise. This often results in accidents.

Five such cases awaiting trial under the Kerala Motor Vehicle Rules were pending before the court in Ernakulam district alone, said Swapna S.P., RTO (Enforcement) of Ernakulam. “Such instances are on the increase in the district. Often, such teenagers and youth zoom past MVD and police personnel even if they signal them to stop for inspection. Even though most such vehicles have missing number plates, chasing them could result in accidents. Parents must prevent such dangerous ride by teenagers, while neighbours and others who come to know of them must inform enforcement personnel.”

Enforcement of norms against underage driving needs ground-level presence of personnel, since AI-enabled cameras are unable to gauge the age of the rider. It calls for deploying adequate number of enforcement teams, for which more vehicles and equipment are required.