CHENNAI: A 15-year-old boy died in a road accident near Vadakarai in Madhavaram when he lost balance, fell off the bike and was run over by a lorry on Friday morning. His cousin who was riding pillion, sustained minor injuries and is undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The victim, Jayaseelan, son of Selvam, took his father’s moped to the nearby locality along with his cousin Soniya, 18, on Friday morning.
“The duo were returning home and as they reached the Municipal office in Vadakarai, Jayaseelan lost balance of the vehicle while climbing over the speedbreaker. A tanker lorry that was coming from behind, ran over him, killing him on the spot. Soniya sustained injuries and was rushed to the hospital,” said the investigation officer.
Police said, the lorry belonged to a private company that was transporting oil from Redhills to Periyapalayam. The lorry driver Murugananthan, has been arrested and further investigations are on.
The mishap brings to light that despite city police trying to caution parents and warn students from driving motorised vehicles, teen riders find ways to get the thrill of speed.
As many as 22 victims below the age of 17 years, lost their lives in road accidents in the City in the last four months, already recording half the number of cases when compared to last year, according to the statistics from the city police.
Data from the city traffic police show that 43 minors were killed in 2018 and 50 minors lost their lives in 2017 and in the last four months, the city has already recorded 22 deaths of minors in road accidents.
Another concern among the police and parents, is that the number of accidents caused by the minors has already sharply increased. According to the data, till April 2019, 11 minors had caused fatal accidents wherein 12 people were killed and apart from this, six minors who were riding two-wheelers, had lost their lives.
In 2018, 21 minors were involved in road accidents, with nine losing their lives and killing 23 people. Also, in 2017, 22 teenagers were involved in fatal accidents, killing 25 people with 8 minors losing their lives.
In a bid to bring down these figures, the police department is closely working with schools, cautioning the management not to encourage teenagers commuting to school by bikes or cars. A senior police officer said, children mostly between class IX and XII, belong to the offenders category. “Even if schools do not encourage this, their parents often offer their bikes to the teens to head to the shop nearby. Some even take the bikes to the tuition centre as their parents are busy or unavailable to drop them off. If the parents are busy, they should encourage the children to use public transport,” added the officer.
“I have been riding my elder brother’s bike from the age of 15 years. It started off from going to the shops, then to the tuition centre, then to pick up my father from the bus stop. A few times, I even managed to take it to my school, but I would park near a corporation park two streets away. However, I got my license only after I joined college,” says Rakesh (name changed), a second year college student.
City police highlight the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 section 3, which states no person is allowed to ride a vehicle without license. Similarly, section 180 states allowing unauthorised persons to drive vehicles -whoever, being the owner or person in charge of a motor vehicle, causes or permits, any other person who does not satisfy the provisions of section 3 or section 4 to drive the vehicle, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to Rs 1000, or with both.
Acting upon this, the city police have registered 8093 cases against people for allowing unauthorised persons to drive and collected Rs 8,53,700 as fine in the last four months.