Transport Minister Disowns Order To Penalise Riders For Talking To Pillions While Riding

A few days ago, we came across a report online where Kerala MVD had asked officers to take action against riders and pillion passengers who speak to each other while riding two-wheelers. After the report went online, the department and the government received a lot of flak from netizens and the general public. However, the Transport Minister of Kerala, K.B. Ganesh Kumar, has now come forward and disowned the MVD’s new directive. He recently told the media that this directive was issued without his knowledge.

As we mentioned in our previous articles, this directive is highly impractical to implement as there is no way officers on duty will be able to trace bikers and pillions who talk while riding. The directive was issued by the Joint Transport Commissioner K. Manoj Kumar. The Commissionerate instructed enforcement officers to take action or penalize bikers who were seen talking, citing potential distractions that could lead to accidents.

There was confusion, and the MVD officers said that the instructions were from the Transport Minister’s office and were based on the number of bike accidents. One of the officers said, “The directive followed a fatal accident when a bike rider rear-ended a lorry after he got distracted by the conversation of the pillion rider. The direction was issued with good intent, and the enforcement officers were told to create awareness among bikers. Currently, there is no provision under the rule to fine them for talking.”

The enforcement department was in trouble as they had no idea how to implement the new directive. Both the pillion passenger and the rider on a two-wheeler have to wear a helmet while riding.

Even if they speak to each other during the ride, the cops cannot prove it. Also, there is no clarity on under which section the rider or the pillion passenger would be fined. If the rider who gets stopped for this can also claim that he did not speak to the pillion passenger.

There are many serious issues on our roads that can distract riders. We often find billboards and large advertisements. While we understand from the words of the officer that this directive was issued with good intent, authorities should have thought of the whole process before making it public. They should also come up with logical ways to implement it.

As we all know by now, Kerala MVD is known to take strict action against offenders and violators. The government even forced the private tourist bus operators to change the color of the buses to white overnight after an accident. While Kerala has a great car culture, the law doesn’t allow people to modify cars. However, people still do it and often find themselves in trouble for it.

MVD often seizes the car and suspends or cancels the registration of vehicles that are heavily modified. They even nab riders who do stunts on public roads and take action, including cancellation of the driver’s license.

MVD also canceled the driving license of a YouTuber who created a swimming pool inside the backseat of his Tata Safari and drove it on a public road.