Cops in Delhi, India are reportedly having trouble shutting down a rising trend of underage, unlicensed children driving their parents' fancy cars to school. Schools figure it's a police problem, the parents are like; "What? School's only just down the road."
According to India Today this is an issue at something like 50 schools in affluent areas. They say the country's Motor Vehicle Act makes it tough for police to prosecute minors in automotive incidents, which I haven't been able to confirm because that is one seriously confusing stack of documents. In any case, threats from principals to put such behavior on kids' permanent record is falling on ears that just don't give a fuck.
"Recently, when a traffic police team visited a prominent school in Vasant Vihar, it found a student driving a Mercedes. When the police called up his parents, they said they let their son drive to school because it was hardly 1 kilometer away," a senior traffic police official told India Today.
Don't worry though, Delhi's Special Commissioner of Traffic Muktesh Chander has it under control. He's been quoted describing his crackdown on the "driving minors" menace; a strongly worded letter-writing campaign.
Yeah, they're apparently going to send letters home as "a reminder for not allowing school kids to drive." That should sort it out. Definitely. Wait, wait, actualy they're also making schools appoint a "traffic coordinator." Case. Closed.
Hat tip to Dan! Image via David Catchpole/Flickr. It's a Legoland car, if you're wondering.
Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.