The story of the Vasco minor riding recklessly on a busy road is not unique. Many people openly criticized this incident, and rightly so. But how many of the critics’ minor children are allowed to ride two-wheelers? Even in Mapusa and other villages, minors with their peers as pillion speed on narrow roads after school and even during the school holidays. It is a known fact that parents allow their minor children to drive themselves to tuition and run errands because they are too busy.
When a parent whose child rode a battery-operated two-wheeler to school was confronted about this, he defended his folly by saying that a battery-operated vehicle does not require registration with the RTO and hence the rider is exempt from holding a licence.
The Goa Children’s Act should include a clause to heavily penalise parents for placing their children at risk by allowing them to ride/drive motorised vehicles.
Juliet DeSouza, Bastora
