Ban on full face helmets stayed till July 2

The Appeal Court yesterday extended till July 2 the stay order against the ban on the use of face-covered helmets.

Justice Vijith K. Malalgoda (President) gave this ruling sequent to two writ petitions filed by a CharteredAccountant and a RetiredArmy Major who sought an order prohibiting the authorities from taking any action on banning the use of such helmets. The two petitions have been postponed for June 30.

Petitioner Rtd. Maj. Nalaka Indrajith also sought an interim order to suspend the operation of the gazette notification No. 644/20 dated Jan. 11, 1991.

The other petitioner,Chanaka Dassanayake, a CharteredAccountant by profession also sought similar relief in his application.

The petitioners said they filed their petitions as Sri Lankan citizens and in the public interest.

The Police Chief, the Ministers of Public Order and Internal Transport and theAttorney General were named as respondents.

Mr. Dassanayake said the statistics available at the Department of Motor Traffic, as at July 2013 revealed that more than 2,642,000 motorcycles had been registered at an average rate of 100,000 new motorcycles registered annually since 2004.

He said more than 16,000 accidents involving motorcycles had occurred in 2012 and in view of the increasing number of victims; 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 Lanka Standard No. 517:1994 provided for two forms of helmets – those which provide protection to the head only and those that protect the head and chin 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 motorcycle accident victims suffered the most trauma to the chin and lower neck.

He said according to the police media spokesman, 128 incidents of robbery had been reported in 2014 committed by people wearing face-covered helmets and 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 face-covered 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 introducing the ban, could be achieved through other less restrictive means, such as by ensuring that such helmets imported, manufactured or otherwise sold in Sri Lanka fully complied with the Motor Traffic (Approved Protective Helmets) Regulations 1990, thus ensuring that they did not obscure, conceal or distort the identity of the wearers.

Counsel Thishya Weragoda with Iresh Seneviratne and Niluka Dissanayake appeared for the petitioners.

According to the police media spokesman, 128 incidents of robbery had been reported in 2014 committed by people wearing face-covered helmets