Underage Driving: Cops seize bikes of minors in Odisha crackdown | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: The transport department on Monday seized bikes of several minors, mostly school and college students, across Odisha as part of a statewide crackdown on underage two-wheeler riders. “We seized the two-wheelers and sent prosecution reports against their parents/guardians to courts. They will have to secure court orders to release the bikes after paying a fine of Rs 25,000,” Lalmohan Sethy, a senior transport official (road safety), said.
While the police and transport authorities had been letting off the violators with warning, they have decided to act tough following a rise in underage driving.
At least 350 accidents were reportedly caused by underage drivers in the state in the last five months, leading to 25 deaths, sources in the transport department said. The deceased included both underage drivers and passengers of other vehicles as well as pedestrians.
According to Section 199A of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, which deals with offences committed by juveniles, regional transport officers can cancel the registration of such vehicles for 12 months and ensure that the minor offenders do not get a driving licence till he/she attains the age of 25.
The same section also empowers the police to register cases against parents and guardians of underage drivers.
There is a provision in the MV Act that learner’s licence can be granted to youngsters between 16 and 18 years with a condition that they cannot ride a vehicle which is more than 50CC.
But the transport authorities hardly issue such licences to these age-groups because 50CC bikes are not available in the market these days.
Police said a number of awareness campaigns were earlier conducted in educational institutions where students were sensitized about the prohibition of underage driving and penal provision in the MV Act.
“We visited a number of schools and organised awareness sessions. Principals and teachers were also sensitized to educate children about the ban on underage driving. We also urged parents to dissuade their children from driving,” a senior traffic police official said.
Authorities in most of the schools claimed that they already issued strict warnings to students against underage driving.
“We have been sending messages to parents and sensitizing students not to come to schools riding bikes or driving cars,” S N Mishra, a teacher of a Bhubaneswar-based private school, said.
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