The Hindu : Front Page : Hit-and-run incidents on the increase in city

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Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008
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Hit-and-run incidents on the increase in city

John L. Paul

Illegible number plates make tracing vehicles difficult

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

AGAINST THE LAW: Vehicles with the number plates concealed or missing are becoming common in the city. A scene from the NH bypass on Tuesday.

KOCHI: Hit-and-run incidents are getting common on Kochi’s highways and the suburbs, reflecting a worsening of road ethics.

This often results in delayed or no medical care for accident victims, many of whom are left to die on the road. Three two-wheeler riders were knocked down by a car and a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), in two separate accidents during the past four days. A youth was killed at Aroor on NH 47 bypass, after an SUV rammed his bike from behind. The driver sped away and hit a car at Kumbalam bridge, following which the police had to put up barricades at Palarivattom to stop the vehicle.

In another incident, a car was driven away after it fatally knocked down a youth and his mother near Koothattukulam. The rent-a-car vehicle was finally traced based on the registration number provided by some auto drivers. But there are many such incidents in which motorists and pedestrians are unable to read the number plate of the runaway vehicle, especially at night.

Lenient laws

The Central Motor Vehicle Rules specifically mention a driver’s responsibility if his vehicle gets involved in an accident. “He must provide first aid to the injured and also take them to the hospital at the earliest.

In addition, the police must be informed of the accident. There have been instances of vehicles escaping from an accident scene being traced, since people can easily take a photo of the vehicle using a camera phone,” said E. Divakaran, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Edappally Traffic).

Even if they are tracked, offenders escape imprisonment because of lenient laws. Hit-and-run victims do not even get the accident insurance if the runaway vehicle is untraced. Many runaway vehicles are untraced because of the inability to read the registration number. “Both Central and State Motor Vehicle Rules speak of the need to have clean and legible number plates at the front and rear of all vehicles. The registration number is a primary means to hold motorists accountable while on the road,” said N.M. Sukumaran, the Ernakulam Regional Transport Officer.

Vehicles adopt innovative methods to hide the number plates or to make them illegible. Vehicles transporting contraband have either a fake number plate or a plate with illegible markings.

Some goods carriers conceal their number plates by fixing the rear crash guard over the registration number. The number plates of a good share of concrete-mixer lorries and tipper lorries operating in Kochi are fully smeared with cement and mud.

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