The Madras High Court has taken upon itself the responsibility of finding a solution to youngsters indulging in reckless riding and driving of motorcycles and cars on public roads. It has decided to bring in “a conveyor belt-like mechanism” for reforming such youngsters. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh has sought the assistance of the Greater Chennai Traffic Police (GCTP) and State Public Prosecutor (SPP) Hasan Mohamed Jinnah in finding a solution to the problem of youngsters, aged 18-25, indulging in rash riding and driving.
When the judge took up one such case as a test case and called upon the SPP for assistance, Mr. Jinnah submitted a status report filed by R. Sudhakar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Greater Chennai Police, listing the possible solutions.
Vulnerable stretches
The police officer said the GCTP had taken measures to curb motorcycle racing and over-speeding of motor vehicles after conducting an in-depth study to prevent such incidents and developing a plan to catch those who race recklessly on public roads. He said some of the arterial roads had been identified as vulnerable stretches where the young motorists indulge in stunts and race because of the roads being broad and long. He said those youngsters often evade the police and escape from the law-enforcers, drawing cheap thrills in doing so.
The GCTP had identified such speeding phenomenon occurring frequently on Kamarajar Salai, East Coast Road (ECR), E.V. Ramasamy Salai, 100 Feet Road, Sardar Patel Road, Santhome High Road, Radhakrishnan Salai, Nungambakkam High Road, Anna Salai, and Grand Southern Trunk Road. In order to discourage racing on such roads, the police had established 31 special checkpoints, besides the regular checkpoints. Special teams had been posted across the city to prevent bike races. The special teams do intense checking on weekends and holidays by laying zig-zag barricades. Further, it had been planned to cover the city with 384 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, the Additional Commissioner said. “These cameras automatically detect speeding vehicles and generate challans. This creates a database of violators habituated to speed-driving or bike-racing,” he said.
Mr. Sudhakar said the weather-proof cameras, generally erected on poles, detect and transmit details and photos of the speeding vehicles for registering a case and imposing a fine. In most cases, the cameras also capture the photograph of the rider/driver, he said.
Interceptor vehicles
The GCTP regularly stations three interceptor vehicles mounted with ANPR cameras on ECR, Old Mahabalipuram Road or Kamarajar Salai, and Koyambedu-Maduravoyal Road to detect and catch vehicles that indulge in stunts or racing, the officer said.
Stating that the GCTP also maintains a database of old offenders involved in racing since 2022, the Additional Commissioner said 107 bonds had so far been executed by the violators for keeping good behaviour and since most of them were teenagers, their parents had been informed of the violations. “Regular counselling is being given to these violators by police officers. The social media pages of the above violators are also being monitored, and whenever they post any video of motor vehicle stunts or any traffic rule violation, action is being initiated against them,” the report read.
The police also informed the court that they had constituted special teams to take cognisance of complaints made by members of the public on the social media with respect to traffic rule violations and the profile of more than 1,000 racers was being monitored regularly.
Mr. Sudhakar said the GCTP had begun registering cases even under Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code and 72 bike race cases were booked between January 1, 2022 and March 13, 2024. The north zone police had arrested 24 accused persons and the south zone police had arrested 46, he said.
“The traffic police are creating awareness of the existence of a dedicated telephone number in 9003130103. The call to this number is received directly by the traffic control room. A person can either call or send SMS to complain about races/over-speeding,” the report added.
The court was informed that 18,209 cases were booked in 2022; 3,988 cases in 2023; and 1,016 cases in 2024 (till March 13) for rash-driving, over-speeding, and racing. Officials had begun inspecting automobile shops which modify motorcycles against the rules. “We inform the shop-owners that modification is against the rules, and severe action, including cancellation of shop licences, will be initiated if the shops are found to be constantly involved in these illegal modifications or selling parts for these modifications,” the Additional Commissioner said.
He said the GCTP was also conducting awareness programmes for students on beaches and at fairs and by placing placards around commercial establishments. Pamphlets were also being distributed on the ills of reckless driving. Short films on traffic awareness were being played at public places and cinema theatres, and film personalities too were being roped in to underscore the need to follow traffic rules.
Smart barricades
Explaining the future plans, Mr. Sudhakar said the police intend to establish smart barricades fitted with ANPR cameras so that challans could be generated without any human intervention.
Appreciating the police for their efforts, Justice Venkatesh said the youngsters appeared to be indulging in such dangerous acts because of their age and the hormonal changes in their body. Such youngsters should not be branded as criminals and at the same time, they should also be made to understand the consequences of their act, he said.
After recording the submission of Mr. Jinnah that the ACP had already got in touch with experts in adolescent psychology to bring about a change among the youngsters, the judge decided to hear the case at length on April 24 and pass further orders on creating a mechanism to deal with the serious issue.
