Helmets mandatory to buy fuel in Cochin
trivandrum — Two-wheel riders in Kerala’s commercial capital of Cochin will not get fuel if they do not wear helmets.
The state government has decided to make helmets mandatory for two-wheeler riders to buy petrol from fuel outlets as part of its drive to bring down road mishaps through strict enforcement of traffic rules.
The initiative will be implemented in the city by the Kerala Road Safety Authority for three months on an experimental basis. If the experiment is found successful it will be extended to other cities in the state, the official said.
An official of the Road Safety Authority said 18 fuel outlets in the city had already agreed to cooperate with the initiative. The official said talks were on to ensure the support of other petrol pump owners to the initiative.
The Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) has come out with the new initiative after the drive to enforce traffic rules launched following the appointment of senior Indian Police Service officer Rishiraj Singh brought down accident deaths in the state.
The accident statistics following the launch of the drive showed that accident deaths in Trivandrum alone had come down from 32 in August this year to 21 deaths in September. The number of accidents also went on a steady decline from 39 in August to 26 in September.
The new initiative is also aimed at bringing down the work load of the enforcement agencies, which were finding it difficult to cope up with the steady rise in the number of vehicles on the roads in the state.
Besides 786,117 vehicles registered within the state till March this year, more than a million vehicles registered in other states were operating on the roads in the state, making enforcement of rules difficult for the MVD.
Though the number of vehicles has increased manifold, the number of enforcement staff in MVD has not gone up. In all, the MVD has 402 motor vehicles inspectors, 212 assistant motor vehicles inspectors, 74 joint regional transport officers and 23 regional transport officers.