Kerala: Social Service & Training To Be Made Mandatory For Traffic Rule Violators

The Kerala Government, on October 13, released a statement saying social service and training will be made compulsory for drivers who violate traffic laws. Earlier, the violators were either slapped with a penalty or prison time, but now the officials will be looking into a reformative measure that would have the violators contribute to society.

The decision comes in the wake of the tragic bus accident that happened due to the driver's negligent and rash driving. On October 5, a private bus collided with a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus in Palakkad, leading to the loss of nine people, including five students. While dealing with the loss of life, the authorities decided to frame new regulations that make it mandatory for the violators to take responsibility.

Proposed Action

The need for revised rules for traffic rule violators was proposed in a high-level meeting chaired by Transport Minister Antony Raju. Apart from the regular set of regulations that suspends the driver's license, the violators would now have to go through mandatory three-day training at the Institute of Driver Training and Research (IDTR). In the initial phase, the program would bring in offenders who drive contract carriages like tourist buses, state carriages, and goods carriages.

A drive was launched on October 8 to detect such violations, and as many as 4,472 cases were registered. Out of these, 253 vehicles were found to be modified, and 414 were found tampering with the speed governor. On the basis of these findings, the fitness certificates of about 263 vehicles, licenses of 108 drivers, and registration of seven vehicles were cancelled.

As per the announcement, drivers involved in critical road accidents and those found to have driven under the influence of intoxicants would mandatorily be engaged in social service for at least three days. They would have to assist doctors or other professionals at the trauma care centres and palliative care units.

According to a report by NDTV, the meeting also decided upon the action that needs to be taken against two-wheelers that are illegally modified.

Earlier Implementations

A similar provision for mandatory social service was proposed in 2019 by the Transport department under AK Saseendran. They had proposed to make it mandatory to suspend the license, cancel the registration, and have the violators do social service. It was being discussed to bring about a change in the attitude of motorists and reduce the number of accident cases being reported in the state.

This year in July, even Punjab and Tamil Nadu had considered bringing in the reformatory rules. As per an article by the Hindustan Times, those exceeding the speed limit or driving under the influence of alcohol in Punjab would attract community service at a hospital or compulsory blood donations.

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