Hyderabad: Hyderabad traffic police have imprisoned 26 parents in the city for allowing their minor children to drive. As of April 23 this year, 273 cases of minor driving in the city have been filed, and an amount of Rs 180,600 collected as penalty.
The strict action comes after a reported increase in incidents of minors being involved in accidents. Apart from the action against parents, a minor was sent to a juvenile home for a month. The traffic police are sending minors to juvenile homes if they are caught more than once.
According to road safety experts, one of the most effective methods of controlling minor driving is by making parents responsible. Most minors drive or ride through back streets rather than main roads. Campaigns need to be doubled and parents need to attend these campaigns arra-nged through schools along with their wards, say the experts.
Hyderabad traffic police additional commissioner Anil Kumar told DC, “We jailed 20 parents in March and six in April. Of the 273 minors booked this year for driving in the city, all were produced in court, which sentenced the 26 parents to imprisonment. We are conducting regular enforcement campaigns against minor driving. It is a very serious issue, because not only does it endanger the life of a minor, but the lives of others. Parents should be made liable for all such violations.”
Ahsan Pasha of Traffic Sense said, “Effective monitoring is required, either through cameras or regular policing. We also need enough trained manpower to monitor cameras and raise fines, failing which people will continue to break the law.”
Indian Federation of Road Safety founder K. Vinod Kanumala said, “Imprisonment of parents for minor driving is a good sign. Parents should be more cautious about their children and see that they are kept away from vehicles, no matter how severely their children pressurise them.”
