Penalty, not safety, drives bikers to wear helmets
According to the data procured from the Mumbai Traffic Police, the helmet use among the motorists has seen a steep rise from 63 per cent in 2015 to 92 per cent in 2018, with joint efforts by the Mumbai police's awareness campaigns and late-night drives to nab helmet-less bikers. A senior traffic official said the extensive use of helmets has also decreased the number of road accident fatalities in the city. Additionally, people now also have a terror of being served an echallan on being caught on the traffic cameras without a helmet.
An official, on the request of confidentiality, said that the number of helmet use has also had an impact on decreasing number of fatal accidents. The statistics obtained from traffic police department stated that among the 912 accidents in the city recorded till August 2018, only 369 have turned fatal while there were 490 fatal accidents recorded in 2017. The data further revealed, among the 490 fatalities reported in 2017, 38 per cent comprised of motorists including 14 per cent pillion riders while the pedestrians made up a whopping 52 per cent of the people who died in road accidents.
The official added,“Earlier the motorists found it extremely painful to wear helmets, but now things are changing. With increased surprise checks, as well as issuance of e-challans and campaigns on social media have encouraged motorcyclists as well as the pillion riders to wear helmets. It has been proven that the wrong method of wearing helmets contributes to fatal road crashes and injuries.”
Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said, "Although wearing helmets properly has been made mandatory as per the Motor Vehicles Act, only one per cent of pillion riders wear helmets in the first place. Worse still, fewer than one per cent of them strap the helmets properly."
"I always use a helmet no matter how far I need to go. I am a law abiding citizen, and always try to go by the book", said Kevin Noah, an animator and a resident of IC Colony in Borivali.
Jinal Dedhia, a resident of Goregaon said, "I generally use the helmet, but when travelling short distances in the vicinity, I sometimes avoid wearing it. However, one day when I was visiting a temple, I realised that the petrol tank was almost empty. With the helmet in my scooter's dickey, I left for the petrol pump, and was caught by a traffic cop standing near the traffic signal. I was fined with Rs 200, and since then I wear a helmet."
Mumbai police's official Twitter handle has time and again requested motorists to wear a helmet. In one such social media post, the police took a quirky take by posting a picture from online game Player Unknown's Battle Ground (PUBG) stating if a player uses a helmet in the virtual life, why not use it in real life.