Coming down heavily on bikers for not carrying a driving licence, Chidambram police on Wednesday booked 20 parents under Section 5 of Motor Vehicle Act for allowing their wards to ride bikes without a driving licence.
Police claim that many students, below 18 years of age, who do not have driving licences, are riding motorbikes in Chidambaram.
Negligent riding on the part of some frivolous youth leads to deadly accidents in the town.
Various initiatives taken by police to check this practice have been ineffective. Even as routine vehicle inspection proved futile to check on licence-less riding by under-aged riders, police came up with a new strategy. As per the order of DSP Rajaram, traffic police held special vehicle checks on various streets on Tuesday evening.
All the bikers, riding without proper documents and licences, were taken to the police station, and their bikes seized. The youngsters were asked to bring their parents to collect their bikes.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, police booked 20 parents under Section 5 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which states “owner not to allow any person to drive the vehicle without driving licence (DL).
If son/daughter is driving a vehicle owned by parent without DL, parent can be prosecuted, though the parent may not be present at the time of the offence.
Police also advised the parents not to allow their sons to ride bikes without licences.
Traffic inspectors Malaisamy and sub-inspector Prakash held the vehicle inspection.
Owing to high students’ presence in Chidambaram town, which has universities and education institutions, the local residents hope that the new police initiative would bring a sea of change in the behaviour of the bike riders.