UP to observe Wednesdays as ‘helmet/seat belt day’

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh’ transport department will observe every Wednesday as the ‘helmet and seatbelt day’ all over the state beginning from coming Wednesday only to make people comply with rules with regard to the wearing of the two safety devices. The transport and the home departments that have jointly taken a decision in this regard have issued directions to the concerning officials for compliance.

LUCKNOW: Despite there being evidence that wearing of helmets and seatbelts do help riders save lives in road accidents, people in Uttar Pradesh seem to have a general aversion to using these safety devices resulting in a large number of avoidable fatalities.

Little wonder then that UP’s share in total deaths that occur due to non-wearing of motorcycle helmet and seatbelt is more than 40% which is highest in the country. UP anyway leads the country in the number of deaths though it is far behind half-adozen states like Tamil Nadu, MP and Maharashtra, in the number of road accidents that take place every year.

“People in UP have a tendency to avoid helmets and seatbelts unless they are forced to or pointed out. In most other states people take safety measures on their own as matter of practice which they rightly see necessary for their own safety,” principal secretary, Aradhana Shukla told the HT.

She said the government would launch a campaign soon to enforce rules with regard to use of safety devices.

Statistics available with the transport department show that in 2016 as many as 3,818 people – 2,826 male and 992 female – died in road accidents in UP as they

did not wear helmets. Another 2,741 people –2,016 male and 725 female – were killed for not wearing seatbelts.

Number of deaths resulting in road accidents because of these two reasons alone comes to 6,559 which is 34% of the total 19,320 deaths reported in road mishaps in the state in 2016.

The number of people who died for the want of helmet and seatbelt was 15,773 (10,135 who were without helmets and 5,638 for not using seatbelt) in the entire country with UP’s share being at the highest of more than 41%.

Among other states reporting a higher number of road accident deaths include Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra at 2,578 and 1,471 deaths, respectively.

“The fact that the number of people dying in road accidents in UP is more than that in any other state in the country despite it being far behind several other states including Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra in number of road accidents shows that more people in Uttar Pradesh die due to head injuries and shock,” a transport department official pointed out.