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Read this on paper today. Somewhere in Chennai, a family of 4 riding on a bike was involved in an accident with a bus, and a 11 month old infant riding on the bike, in the mother's hands, was thrown below the bus tyre and perished. Other 3 bike riders were safe.

The paper reported that the bus driver was arrested. Speechless. What about the bike driver who made an offence in the first place, using a vehicle meant for 2, to carry 4 lives. He should've been arrested too.

This was near Madhuravayal. And the baby was to celebrate its birthday today. Tragic end! Though both parents are to be blamed for the accident, law taking its own course!

Please read:

http://www.newindianexpress.com/citi...cle2383694.ece

What exactly do you suggest the parents should have done differently?

They shouldn't have taken their children on a motorcycle. A motorcycle is not even meant for 4 people, leave aside taking your 11 month old baby on it.

It is ironical that on one side, we are looking for child seats to secure our toddlers in our cars and on the other, it is acceptable for us to see an entire family of 4 on a two wheeler!

You are right, but I was not looking for the technically correct answer. The point I was trying to arrive at is that a two-wheeler is still the only affordable vehicle for the vast majority of Indians. Indeed, my father has done precisely the same thing - and probably have the parents of many of us here. It is easy to sermonize "they shouldn't have"; what exactly could have they done? Left their 11-month old daughter alone at home while they went shopping? Papa and bro on the bike while mom and daughter took the bus? It is easy to criticize the father's action, but please also try to empathize with him.

Parents should be more careful about the safety of their children and should use the public transport if the entire family needs to travel and they do not have the option of a car. You have buses and autos that are accessible to the common man. What would the same father have done if he had 4 kids instead of 2?

Agree. A family of 4 travelling on a 2-wheeler is definitely a much more serious safety hazard than 3 adults travelling in the same bike. If the latter is a scenario that can be booked under overloading, there should be some serious action taken against the former case too under same rule.

Since this would impact millions of 'vote-bank' families across the country, it is unlikely that any political entity would take a step in this direction and attract the wrath of millions of people. I hope someone files a PIL in court so that the judiciary gives a ruling clarifying the same, since they need not worry about giving verdicts that may not be pleasant to the masses.

I certainly see no reason for the bus driver to be arrested in this particular case since the bus didn't play any role in the bike skidding. Do we arrest a loco pilot in case someone jumps in front of a train? I'm sure arrest is just a routine procedure in this case and an action against the bus driver is unlikely.

This risk awareness should be included part of the road safety awareness programs that we run as part of different 'drives' associated with NGOs so that at least a part of the population might be giving this a proper thought. This is much more important than helmets and seat belts.

It's a terrible design feature. What was (or is) VW thinking? Even without kids it can create problematic situations if the engine fails to start for whatever reason. Another such feature is that the headlamp cannot be kept for a second after the ignition is cut off which I find extremely annoying. Both these are particularly relevant in India with poor lighting, high levels of ambient noise on roads etc. that VW should have thought of before launching their cars.

I think, sometimes, that modern cars put too many eggs into one basket by making everything such as headlights, horn, brakes, steering engine-dependent.

The newspaper report says that they had made elaborate arrangements to celebrate the toddler's birthday and it also says that they were returning home after some shopping for the same. When they are in a position to afford all these - Surely they could have afforded an auto - NO?

Actually, why not the option of all of them taking the bus?

I fully empathize with the family but it is purely human nature to think that all the miseries that happen to others would not happen to us till you actually get hit with a truck load of it. I just put my thoughts on the same since it is a very common sight on our roads and a component of the leading contributor for death from accidents.

I agree that a lot of us would have had similar experiences during our childhood. However, in those days, I could fall down in the middle of the road, get myself up, pick the cycle and move over to the roadside before the next vehicle comes. That was the traffic density a couple of decades back. Now, you get run over even before you hit the ground. Again, hardly any vehicle went over 40-50km/h speeds in those days. In the present, hardly anyone goes below those speeds.

Times have indeed changed, and something that we got away with in the past need not necessarily be something you can get away with now and it is only going to get worse in future. In my childhood, people were ashamed to drive a car with a scratch and would get it fixed within a couple of days of getting it; even cabs didn't have scratches on them. Now, my car has a few minor scratches that I'll 'probably' fix as part of the next 10k service if I find time; because every car on the road would have scratches somewhere on it and I'm not standing out driving a car with a couple of minor scratches. If the cars are easily getting scratched, it just means that the driving standards in general has taken a downward trend from what it used to be. A human life is much more valuable to risk it.

I was not making any statement about the kind of transportation this family could afford (notwithstanding a point about getting into a Chennai bus on a Friday evening with a 11-month baby). I was only pointing out the utter insensitivity of blaming the parents and calling for the arrest of the father.

In India the concept of overloading a vehicle to it's maximum is the order of the day be it car 2 wheeler, car , bus or truck. We have seen so many 2 wheelers with the kid sitting on the fuel tank. More than blaming others for the mishap, the bike owners should be aware of the potential hazards.

Someone being poor doesn't give them the right to break the law and also doesn't give them the right to blame someone else/beat them up or get them arrested for their own ignorance.

You need to separate empathy/sympathy from the rule of law. There is no variation of law that can be applied to different people depending on their financial status.

Just because majority of India can only afford bike doesn't make it legal or right or the license for them to break the law.

Please segregate emotion from rule of law. Someone else whose only crime was driving a bus on the road is being punished for the family's negligence.

Unless our country stops this funda of poor man is always right because he cannot afford to follow the rules stops, we all know where it is headed.

+1 to this.

Insensitive? Yes.
Necessary? Probably also yes.

As the driver, he exhibited extremely poor judgement by taking 4 people on a 2-wheeler. As the father, his actions did not reasonably ensure the safety of his family.

However, we Indians don't seem to learn by any other means, so maybe its about time a stronger message was sent.

The newspaper article mentioned the bus was 'tailing' the bike - what is not known is whether this was tailgating, or following at a safe distance, and whether that has a bearing on the bus driver's arrest.

I once saw 6 people on a bike - Yes 6. This was when I was going to Coorg and I could not believe my eyes.

Well said. I am amazed in this case that someone can actually defend the father. To me he is the guy responsible for the infant. I agree that most in this country do not have the means to buy a car, what stops them getting onto a bus? Surely it is safer. I simply cannot believe how can a father be so irresponsible?

I have a 4 month daughter and I really want to make her sit on my Bullet, which has some sentimental value - I want to ride it just for a few meters - but am I going to do so? Not even in my dreams. It is called stupidity.
Next - I wanted to go out with my daughter and wife a month back, when we came back to Bangalore - but my car seat was still on its way - did I even think of traveling without the car-seat - Not in a zillion years. It's not that I do not believe in luck and fate but I would not be able to live with myself if there is an injury or pain to my family due to my negligence.

And finally, we Indians; always take things for granted. We always think, it would not happen with us and when it does, we are left wondering what hit us.

I don't seem arrest of father would improve the situation in country like India. Its like applying salt to his wounds(childs death). God has already given him his due of taking risk of riding 4 people on two wheeler and father will remember this mistake till end of his life.
I believe making elaborate awareness like a poster / billboards mentioning such tragic deaths due to overloading on two wheeler will give some people(who take risks) food for thought. I know out of 100 maybe 10 may read it but it kinda have influenced them in changing their decisions.