Every single Indian is aware of traffic rules and regulations. However, when it comes to implementing them in real life, we tend to fail very consistently. And when that’s combined with our habit of driving without helmets or seat-belts, it results in catastrophic collisions. The death of an engineering student from Kerala is one such example.
According to NDTV, the engineering student became the victim of rash driving while he was taking part in a biking challenge on the Bengaluru-Pune National Highway. The Karnataka police said,
“The engineering student was killed immediately when his 250cc Honda CBR 250R Repsol Edition motorcycle slammed into a lorry that was ahead of him and had braked suddenly.”
He was a final year student of the Nehru Engineering College, which was located at Pambady in Kerala’s Palakkad district. In addition to that, he had a fascination for bikes and used to regularly post snippets of his motorcycle rides on his social media handles.
While having an interest in bikes is no crime, it was his inclination towards driving them at breakneck speeds that attracted him to a US-based organization called Iron Butt Association.
“he had a craze for speed bike riding and was participating in the Saddle Sore challenge that required riders to cover around 1,500 km in 22 hours.”
Reportedly, the student had left on Tuesday evening. However, his parents didn’t know that he was taking part in a challenge. They just knew that he was taking a trip to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
“Police found a sketch of the route map of his planned trip – Palakkad-Bengaluru-Pune – from his home in nearby Ottapalam and some jottings on the risks involved, equipment needed for emergency and eatables such as chocolates to be carried.”
While most of us will be quick to assume that it was the student’s fault alone, the police has reported that the lorry driver was at fault as well. That’s why a case of rash and negligent driving has been registered against him.
Although this death is very unfortunate, we shouldn’t term it as just another accident and forget about it. Instead, we should force the traffic police to be stringent about the rules, despite of the backlash they receive from the public. Additionally, we should take it upon ourselves to drive responsibly and avoid putting our lives at stake for people who’re meaning to make money off of it.