Its parents job to tame teenagers

HYDERABAD: There were one too many ‘if onlys’ for 18 year-old MA Shukoor Quadri, whose friends and teachers remember him as a kind and bright boy. The student of intermediate final year, who lost his life in an accident on his birthday on Wednesday, had little control over the circumstances.“The BMW car was being driven by a friend of Shukoor’s from Sri Chaitanya Junior College and they had all gone for a drive to celebrate his birthday.I still cannot believe that my close friend is no more,” says Manish Sirwani, classmate of Shukoor.Whether it was his fault or not, two accidents involving teenagers in less than a week in Banjara Hills is disturbing.Police attribute the increasing trend to the failure of parents to rein in their children.“Most of the parents are unaware that their children drive around the town late into the nights in their car.Also, some of the parents give in to the demands out of ignorance,” says GVG Ashok Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) who observes that when it comes to counseling young violators of traffic rules, parents take the initiative.The City Police has been conducting a special drive against teen drivers and holding counselling sessions for them as well as their parents.A similar incident on Sunday morning had resulted in injuries to four students of ninth standard who rammed their Honda City car into a compound wall in Banjara Hills.The disregard for safety is higher among the youth.“If only Shukoor was wearing a seat-belt, it would have resisted the impact of the accident and we might have seen him among us,” says Ramana Reddy, Mathematics lecturer and mentor of MA Shukoor at St.Mary’s Junior College.“It is the responsibility of parents to prevent youngsters from driving before they attain the legal age.I wish the parents of the 17 year-old boy who was driving the vehicle had sent a driver along.After all, life cannot be measured in monetary terms,” adds Ramana Reddy who remembers Shukoor as an academically promising student who always scored above 80 per cent and used to visit him for help in Mathematics.The 100-odd comments on St.Mary’s page on Facebook might not bring back Shukoor but it clearly sends a strong message to the youngsters.As a student of St.Mary’s, Imaad Abbas observes, “The college needs to counsel students and parents who possess these highend machines.”