Full-face helmets: Ban stayed
The Appeal Court yesterday extended the stay order on the operation of the police advisory which bans the use of face-covered helmets until May 19. Justice Vijith K. Malalgoda (President) gave this ruling sequent to two writ petitions filed by a Chartered Accountant and a Retired Army Major who sought an order prohibiting the authorities from taking any action on banning the use of such helmets.
The two writ petitions have been postponed for May 18.
Petitioner Rtd. Major Nalaka Indrajith also sought an interim order to suspend the operation of the gazette notification No. 644/20 dated 11/1/1991.
The other petitioner Chanaka Dassanayake of Pita Kotte, a Chartered Accountant by profession, had also sought similar relief in his application.
The petitioners said the petitions were filed as Sri Lankan citizens and in the public interest.
The Police Chief, t he Minister of Public Order, the Minister of Internal Transport and the Attorney General were named as respondents.
Mr. Dassanayake said according to statistics available at the Department of Motor Traffic, as at July 2013 more than 2,642,000 motorcycles had been registered with an average of 100,000 new motorcycles registered annually since 2004.
He said more than 16,000 accidents involving motorcycles had taken place in 2012 and in view of the increasing number of such injuries; the Sri Lanka Standards Institute in 1981 drafted a comprehensive Sri Lankan Standard for the importation and use of helmets by motorcyclists. This was revised in 1994 and 2007.
The petitioner said the Sri The petitioner said an article published in the Journal of Trauma Injury, Infection and Critical Care, in 2001, had identified that most motorcycle accident victims suffered most trauma to the chin and lower neck area. Lanka Standard No. 517:1994 provided for two forms of helmets, namely, helmets that provide protection to the head area only; and helmets that provide protection to head and chin area commonly known as “full-face helmets”. He said for all intents and purposes, neither the Motor Traffic (Approved Protective Helmets) Regulations 1990, nor the Sri Lanka Standard 517:1994 hindered or restricted or prohibited the use of face-covered helmets.
The petitioner said an article published in the Journal of Trauma Injury, Infection and Critical Care, in 2001, had identified that most motorcycle accident victims suffered most trauma to the chin and lower neck area.
He said according to the police media spokesman, 128 incidents of robbery had been reported in 2014 committed by persons wearing face-covered helmets. He said according to the statistics available at the Police Department more than 4,000 robberies had been committed in 2013.
The petitioner said on March 25, 2015, the media spokesman told a news conference that the ban on the use of face-covered helmets would apply from April 2, 2015.
He said the Police Chief’s decision to ban facecovered helmets was not communicated to the public by way of any regulation or publication in the Government Gazette and the petitioner believed that the only communication was through the media statement made by the police spokesman.
The petitioner said the objective of minimising crime, which is the purported objective of i ntroducing the ban, could be achieved through other less restrictive means, such as by ensuring that such helmets imported, manufactured or otherwise sold i n Sri Lanka fully comply with t he Motor Traffic (Approved Protective Helmets) Regulations 1990, thus ensuring that they do not obscure, conceal or distort the identity of the wearers.
President’s Counsel Faizer Mustapha with Pulasthi Rupasinghe, Harshana de Silva, Mehan Careem and Charaka Jayaratne appeared for Rtd. Major Indrajith while Counsel Thishya Weragoda with Iresh Seneviratne and Niluka Dissanayake appeared for Mr. Dassanayake.