Sir,
In today’s India most children near the age of fourteen have learnt to drive and at this point a question arises that ‘Should the driving age be 14?’ and my take on this is an absolute NO. However most children near age of 14 have learnt to drive but that is not the only thing necessary for being in the driver’s seat on the road, spontaneous reactions, concentration and responsibility are the major necessities. When a person reaches 18 years and enters into his adulthood, he gains responsibility for himself and respect of the mutual well being of other drivers on the road. Children under 18 years of age tend to be overactive and look for thrill in their driving. They are not responsible for other drivers on the road and are more often involved in law breaking on the road; they along with their other underage drivers participate in illegal races on the crowded roads which puts their life and their fellow drivers on risk. Some underage drivers are also responsible for traffic jamming on the roads as well as major accidents and even deaths.
Most importantly, the number of children driving scooters has risen rapidly due to the increased fuel efficiency and decreased costs of these vehicles. Because of which parents are also encouraging their children to learn driving. This has led to a very rapid increase in road accidents and deaths. This has also led to an increased level of under activity among children as children prefer their two-wheeler instead of walking or cycling which has led to an increased number of obese children in India which will deteriorate their health in the long term. Most children tend to drive without helmets and are very fascinated towards driving at fast speeds.
For preventing all this Government should impose and introduce new and strict laws which may entail heavy penalty or fine on underage drivers. Moreover, parents should discourage their children from using vehicles until they have obtained their driving license.
Aditya Wazir
on e-mail
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