Hold guardians to account for juvenile driving offences

While the Motor Vehicles Act has a provision to penalise the owner of a vehicle that is involved in a traffic offence, it usually ends in a fine. Perhaps it is for the lack of other sane,

safe things to do in this city, but there is something disturbing and ugly about the manner in which thrill-seeking teenagers zoom around in cars and on motorcycles, caring a hoot for

traffic laws, fellow motorists, and pedestrians, and endangering lives, including their own. The issue comes into focus whenever there is an accident involving an underage driver, like on

Wednesday morning off Marine Drive, when a 17-year-old at the wheel of a car lost control and ran over a senior citizen attempting to cross the road. Unlike the menace of drunk driving,

which the police seem to have under a semblance of control, juvenile driving offences have been rising steadily of late. The onus for this clearly lies more with parents/guardians and

lawmakers than with enforcers. While the Motor Vehicles Act has a provision to penalise the owner of a vehicle that is involved in a traffic offence, it usually ends in a fine. The law

should be amended and owners/guardians who allow underage people to drive should face imprisonment. Sending a few negligent parents to jail will go a long way in ensuring that they think 10

times before handing over the keys of their cars and bikes to their brats. The judiciary, too, must explore harsher punishment for young offenders. While it is true that their lives may be

destroyed, it could also be argued — and more persuasively — that anyone who thinks he is old enough to break the law and endanger fellow citizens must be deemed old enough to face the

consequences. For, unlike in the video games that fuel youngsters’ need for speed, life, unfortunately, has no restart button.