The Hindu : Front Page : Accident costs school student his leg

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Accident costs school student his leg

Meera Srinivasan and L.Srikrishna

Will the School Education Department implement task force recommendations soon?

— PHOTO: M.VEDHAN

In peril: School students are exposed to road dangers. One such scene on Kamaraj Salai on Thursday.

CHENNAI: A private car driver’s reckless driving seriously injured six-year-old school boy S. Swaminathan.

Doctors in the private hospital where he was admitted to had to amputate his leg on Wednesday.

The episode stands as a strong example of what rash driving and lack of road safety consciousness could lead to.

The child, his parents and teachers are in pain, shock and trauma.

Police said the accident occurred when the boy was returning home at around 2 p.m. in an autorickshaw with his friends Ezhilan, Vaishali and Satish along the 21st Street, Fifth Sector in K. K. Nagar.

All of them are class I students of a private school in the locality.

autorickshaw coming from the opposite direction.

A parent, who happened to be on the spot, rushed the children to a nearby hospital. Though all four children were admitted, Swaminathan suffered serious injuries. Autorickshaw driver E. Ravi (40) was also treated for injuries.

The Guindy Traffic (Investigation) Police registered a case under IPC Sections 337 and 338 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) read with Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act against Lakshmanan and arrested him. The auto was badly damaged in the accident, an investigation officer said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sunil Kumar told The Hindu that rash driving had resulted in the accident. Drivers should be more cautious while driving in and around school zones, he said, adding that the police were visiting schools and educating children on the need for road safety through Road Safety Patrol (RSP) programme, he added.

Task force

The State School Education Department constituted a task force in July 2006 to study the incidence of fatal road accidents involving school students. It was expected to submit its recommendations in six months’ time from then to the Department.

The task force, chaired by Mr. Sunil Kumar, is said to have made recommendations that schools run their own transport, introduce a uniform colour code for vehicles transporting school children with a bold sign on it reading ‘school children inside’, and ensure that attenders are available in all school vans and buses. School teachers feel that only if the government scrutinises the recommendations and implements them soon, they can make necessary arrangements, at least before the next academic year.

Signboards needed

The area around schools should have several sign boards saying school zone and those exceeding the permissible speed limit should be fined severely. More traffic policemen should be posted around schools, they added.

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