[Pferdestarke]

This happened yesterday in Vijayawada near Benz Circle, one of the busiest junctions in the city where two national highways intersect.

A 5 year old kid appeared suddenly on the motorway in his battery operated toy car. Fortunately, passing crowd and traffic cops grabbed the kid promptly before any mishap could happen.

https://youtu.be/BwycuL5E-qo

In scenarios like these, the parents must be penalised for negligence IMO.

Also, can this be considered a case of driving by minor and parents be pressed with charges as the kid was using a self propelling four wheeled vehicle (Can this be called a vehicle legally?)

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, Pferdestarke! Would say this incident definitely deserves its own thread. Glad nothing untoward happened. I see a future BHPian .

[mvadg]

I've been pondering on how to warn women who allow their kid to ride tiny tricycles inside the gated community. These are so low that they are invisible to most drivers, especially if they were moving under the line of vision and enter the car's path.

[ariesonu]

Originally Posted by Pferdestarke

A 5 year old kid appeared suddenly on the motorway in his battery operated toy car. Fortunately, passing crowd and traffic cops grabbed the kid promptly before any mishap could happen.

Probably TESLA competitor, road-testing their vehicle.
Since every politico in India is crying hoarse on E-vehicles, this kid's parents have gone ahead & is nurturing the next generation to go green.

On serious note, probably his mom is busy someplace chatting over her smartphone & dad earning big ones to buy his son a bigger/badder E-vehicle.

Had this been a US, the kid would have gone to child shelter & his car to a graveyard. An apt lesson for such careless parents.

Rgds-Sonu

[Relax&Cruise]

Originally Posted by mvadg

I've been pondering on how to warn women who allow their kid to ride tiny tricycles inside the gated community. These are so low that they are invisible to most drivers, especially if they were moving under the line of vision and enter the car's path.

Well if you really want to do something just get a stick or old antenna attach a small but bright coloured flag/rag to it.
Tie this flag to one tricycle, the rest of the kids will follow.
Or you can talk to a sympathetic mom/dad and explain the problem.

On my youngest kid's bicycle I have put reflective tape strategically, just to increase his visibility (to others) in the late evenings and night.

[pramodkumar]

Lets talk of the word "paradigm shift" for a minute

Lets say this happened when the kid was in some daycare or was with some babysitter and this happened under their watch, how many of you will still blame the parents?

Lets not jump the gun, Being a parent of a toddler this worries me a lot and this is enough for me to put off the purchase of the Toy car I was planning to get for my own kid.

Now lets hope we get the full story before we start blaming the parents. Now I am really interested to see if the mood on the thread is going to be the same or we see a paradigm shift?

Pramod

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by Pferdestarke

In scenarios like these, the parents must be penalised for negligence IMO.

In a "Developed Country", the parent would have been arrested, and the custody of the child taken over by Child Protective Services.

In India, had an unfortunate motorist hit and killed the child, he would've been beat to pulp and traffic held up for 3 hours.

Fortunately since the child did not get hit by any vehicle, he has become a mini celebrity in local news and on Team BHP!

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by Pferdestarke

In scenarios like these, the parents must be penalised for negligence IMO.

Also, can this be considered a case of driving by minor and parents be pressed with charges as the kid was using a self propelling four wheeled vehicle (Can this be called a vehicle legally?)

Unfortunate and could have been tragic. Our Motor Vehicles Act 1988 or Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 do not cover such negligent and hazardous acts, as the battery operated toy car does not come under the purview of the "Act" and "Rules" . That's quite ironical.

But the Indian Penal Code of 1860 has provisions to penalise the wrong doers. Sections 279 deals with "Rash driving or riding in a public way" and Sec 283 deals with "Danger in public way or line of navigation." Again unfortunately, this will not at all be applicable under any circumstances to a 5 year old child.

The dreaded Section 317 however takes care of appropriate punishment to the parents of the child:-

Section 317. Exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years, by parent or person having care of it.

Exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years, by parent or person having care of it -- Whoever being the father or mother of a child under the age of twelve years, or having the care of such child, shall expose or leave such child in any place with the intention of wholly abandoning such child, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.

Explanation.-This section is not intended to prevent the trial of the offender for murder or culpable homicide, as the case may be, if the child die in consequence of the exposure.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

Lets say this happened when the kid was in some daycare or was with some babysitter and this happened under their watch, how many of you will still blame the parents?

It was indeed his parent's ignorance. This kid managed to drive close to 1Km on this busy road. Thankfully he is safe.

Here is the news : Source

According to police, Pinnamaneni Sriram was playing inside his house in P&T Colony with the toy car around 11 am. His father Sravan Kumar left home for work unmindful that his son followed him on his toy car.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) A Ravi Shankar Reddy said Sriram drove his toy car approximately for 1 km away from his house in search of his father, but no one bothered to stop the kid driving on the busy Bandar Road.

“Though many heavy vehicles passed on the road at that time, luckily no untoward incident happened. Some pedestrians, who saw the boy driving the toy car, stopped him and alerted us,” the traffic police said.
“Our staff handed over the boy to his parents. We counselled the boy’s parents to keep a watch on his movements henceforth to prevent any untoward incident.” the Traffic DCP said.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

how many of you will still blame the parents?

Absolutely a valid point Pramod. End of the day it is those who were guarding this kid, Parents or Babysitters or Day care center who are to be blamed for leaving this child unattended.

Then comes the point about upbringing and buying such gadgets/toys for a 5 year kid and being irresponsible that led to this situation, thankfully with no untoward incident.

Place where I stay, I have few kids who will play within limits when their parents are home and watching from the balcony. Days when its the caretaker who keeps a vigil, they are a different breed and don't care at all. For a 5 Year old kid, putting sense in terms of where not to venture with such a toy is secondary and exactly why whoever is accompanying the kid at that time should be held responsible. Remember that unattended cattle are also supposed to treated this way and the owner is reprimanded. I treat this 5 Year old kid likewise who is still growing up and doesn't know the dangers of such acts.

I would blame parents for their upbringing if this was a kid above 8-10 years by when it would have developed better sense by all the preaching and learning and hence not dared to enter a main thoroughfare like this kid did.

[Chetan_Rao]

Not to undermine the safety issues involved, but if that kid got a kilometer away from home undetected, a lot worse than a traffic accident could've happened.

Blaming parents here & now and taking them to task (as the police seem to have done), harsh as it may seem, is way better than consoling bereaved parents of a lost/stolen/injured/maimed/dead child later.

[pganapathy]

Point blank, this is the parents/guardians fault. Not only do they not have any idea where their kid is, he has also been missing for quite a while. The time it must have taken him to travel 1km to the highway on public roads is scary long.

[V.Narayan]

A battery operated car for a 5 year oldThat itself shows the parents have more money than good sense. Would they give their child a meat cleaver to play with? While I appreciate the point made by @pramodkumar the root of the problem started with giving the child a toy he is not capable of understanding the safety rules for.

[Pferdestarke]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

The dreaded Section 317 however takes care of appropriate punishment to the parents of the child

Thanks for the info sir! The parents should have been pressed with charges under this section and punished accordingly.

Unless enforced properly, rules and laws make no sense.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Would they give their child a meat cleaver to play with? While I appreciate the point made by @pramodkumar the root of the problem started with giving the child a toy he is not capable of understanding the safety rules for.

Very true sir! Most of the parents I meet only care about cost and bling factor of the toys but pay least or no heed to age restrictions while choosing one for their beloved kids.

[GrandTourer]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

A battery operated car for a 5 year oldThat itself shows the parents have more money than good sense. Would they give their child a meat cleaver to play with? While I appreciate the point made by @pramodkumar the root of the problem started with giving the child a toy he is not capable of understanding the safety rules for.

I beg to differ sir, but I think parents gift their child any toy out of love. Having said that, it's their duty to not leave their kids unattended when they play with their toy. And the meat cleaver analogy IMO is a bit much. A battery operated toy car is safe under supervision, but a meat cleaver is outright dangerous even under adult supervision.

Originally Posted by pganapathy

Point blank, this is the parents/guardians fault. Not only do they not have any idea where their kid is, he has also been missing for quite a while. The time it must have taken him to travel 1km to the highway on public roads is scary long.

On point. The parents didn't notice him missing for such a long time. It would take good 8-10 minutes to travel 1 km in that toy car. Enough time to realize the child is missing from home.

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Blaming parents here & now and taking them to task (as the police seem to have done), harsh as it may seem, is way better than consoling bereaved parents of a lost/stolen/injured/maimed/dead child later.

Absolutely true. I can't imagine parents listening to folks saying it was your fault after something untoward happened. It would kill the parents.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

End of the day it is those who were guarding this kid, Parents or Babysitters or Day care center who are to be blamed for leaving this child unattended.


I would blame parents for their upbringing if this was a kid above 8-10 years by when it would have developed better sense by all the preaching and learning and hence not dared to enter a main thoroughfare like this kid did.

Good point on the age to attain a bit of maturity.