Everyday thousands of children travel between their homes and schools though different modes of transport. While a majority use public transport, others travel by private vehicles and commercial ones such as autorickshaws and vans.
Though a slew of awareness programmes are being conducted about the need for safety on road, it looks like not many motorists transporting children comply with road rules. It is a common scene to see children transported like luggage in autorickshaws, vans and even in school buses.
Sometimes, the satchels and lunch bags of the children fall down or flown away from the roof of the vehicles, a traffic police at the busy Tallakulam intersection says. Rash and negligent driving of the drivers of vehicles transporting children give tense moments to other motorists.
The other day, Regional Transport Officer (Madurai North) Ravichandran issued a number of guidelines on safety aspects to be followed by drivers, especially in rainy season. According to traffic police, accidents in this season tend to rise during this period.
Recently, Commissioner of Police P. Kannappan said that road users also had to cooperate with the police to ensure safe driving and discipline on roads. “We may impose fines, and seize vehicles of erring drivers. But, does it really serve the purpose? A life gone is gone in a fatal accident. Or a permanent disability will cripple the victim for life,” he had said.
Traffic police also say that they had been educating not only drivers but also the parents and higher secondary school going students on road safety. To begin with, private van drivers had been instructed to display boards (On School Duty) on both sides of the vehicles to make known to other road users that school children were inside.
Data available with the police and Transport Department reveal that they have impounded 45 autorickshaws in the past 60 days for various violations which include overloading of passengers (read children), driving without licence, and without permit.
The educational institutions should also wake up to the difficulties of police and insist on safety measures during parent-teacher meets, an officer said.
