A total 1,900 minors and students have been counselled by the City Traffic Police at the counselling sessions for parents and minors held on Mondays during the last one year.
A majority of the cases pertain to driving without license, violation of traffic rules, triple riding and dangerous driving practices. Many think that it is the parents who ought to be blamed for giving their son or daughter a two-wheeler even before they are get a driving license. Children compare themselves with their peers and pester their parents for a bike and the latter give in to their demands under extreme pressure.
“You shouldn’t try to emulate the stunts performed by your favourite film heroes on their bikes. They do not perform the stunts as that part is taken care of by dupes, after taking sufficient precautions. When you indulge in such stunts on the road, you end up paying with your lives,” Police Commissioner J. Purnachandra Rao cautioned youngsters at a counselling session for minors, who were caught driving two-wheelers, and their parents here on Monday.
Video clips
Extreme work pressure and racing against time have become the order of the day for almost everyone. The fallout of this was ‘missing human relations’ and ‘lack of understanding between parents and children’. Children would be the priority for parents and they couldn’t imagine life without them.
“Instead of thinking that your parents do not understand your feelings, you should try to understand them,” Video clips of road accidents occurring due to careless driving, cell phone driving and not following traffic rules were shown on the occasion.
Most of the parents expressed the view that they were being forced to give bikes to their children as they were pestering them. One mother said that she was allowing her son to take the bike as she was sending him on errands.
A man said that driving by minors and not heeding traffic rules was a ‘universal problem’ and suggested holding of more awareness programmes at schools and colleges. Even girls and women were driving without licenses and indulging in rash driving.
A mechanic wanted his son to be put in jail as he was not heeding his words. “If you fine and leave him, he will get back to his old ways. If you continue to indulge in driving without license or violate traffic rules hereafter, you will be booked and jailed, if necessary. Once you get involved in a police case, you will not get a passport for higher studies abroad and you may be denied employment,” Mr. Purnachandra Rao warned the youngsters.
The Police Commissioner rewarded two engineering students – Naveen and Madhukanta – for catching an auto driver who tried to snatch the gold chain of an elderly woman passenger at Rushikonda on Friday.
