Teenagers driving luxury cars and weak enforcement expose the deadly cost of impunity.
Ineligible people — drunk, underage or without a licence — driving luxury cars and running over the unsuspecting common man have been a feature of Indian roads for quite some time. Despite ending the lives of fellow human beings, they often escape the scrutiny of the law thanks to their riches or influence. A pliable legal system often ensures that these social criminals are let off with a light rap on their knuckles. Delivered several decades later, too, after committing the crime.
The back-to-back incidents of teens driving luxury cars and hitting two-wheeler passengers, killing them on the spot, in the dead of the night and the police system doing everything possible to help the culprits by wasting the golden hour in Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala, has eventually led to the state government finally waking up to the dangers of allowing the new normal to persist. It has transferred the top cop in the city and put four police officers, including the station house officer, under suspension for dereliction of duty after the minor son of an additional sessions judge ran over a 56-year-old roadside eatery owner in the early hours of Sunday. It has also booked the judge as per the law for allowing his minor son to drive the car of which he is the owner.
Accidents do happen but the death of 1.85 lakh people a year in a country of 140 crores is an unacceptable number. Sadly, India accounts for 11 per cent of all road accident deaths worldwide despite the fact that it has only one per cent of the total number of vehicles on the road. Poor road infrastructure and a lack of civic sense do contribute a major share of this data but a liberal legal system which practically decriminalises drunken driving with a meagre fine and laws that are subject to strange interpretations offer little incentive for responsible driving. Unless the government tightens the laws and enforcement agencies choose to implement them, the country will continue to lose valuable lives on its roads.
