Police and the officials attached to the Regional Transport Office here are likely to conduct surprise checks across the district to identify drivers under the influence of alcohol while carrying schoolchildren in their vehicles.
The accident near Nanguneri on Wednesday evening in which some schoolchildren were injured, has come as an eye-opener for the officials. When A. Siva (29), a van driver from Paanaankulam near Nanguneri, was taking the children from school to their homes on Wednesday evening as usual, the vehicle overturned, injuring 23 children.
As Nanguneri police, who nabbed Siva after the mishap, found that the driver was manoeuvring the vehicle under the influence of alcohol, they obtained the doctor’s certificate confirming the driver to be in an inebriated condition.
Subsequently, he was produced in a court which remanded him in judicial custody.
Superintendent of Police V. Vikraman, on coming to know about this mishap triggered by a drunk driver, recommended to the Regional Transport Officer to cancel Siva’s driving licence and impound the vehicle.
“Moreover, it has been recommended to the RTO to initiate stringent action against those driving vehicles, especially vans and autos carrying schoolchildren, under the influence of alcohol,” Mr. Vikraman said.
The people expect the enforcement agencies also to look for overcrowding in autos and vans. After a school student was killed when an overcrowded auto overturned near Galaxy Hospital on North Bypass Road in 2013, the police and the transport authorities jointly initiated action against overcrowded autos and vans, which was abandoned midway.
Emboldened by this slackness, the auto and van drivers stuff as many children as possible in their vehicles to augment their revenue while the parents, who have to pay only less, are not worried about the safety of their wards.
“While the parents should desist from sending their children to school in overcrowded vehicles, the official machinery should act tough against the erring drivers so that the safety of the children will be guaranteed. An accident should never be an eye-opener for the enforcement agencies,” said D.A. Prabhakar, Chairman, FEDCOT.
