Chennai breaks its head over the helmet rule

CHENNAI: Amid heated arguments in the public domain on the Madras High Court rule that mandates wearing helmets while riding two-wheelers, the city police is making yet another attempt to implement the rule strictly from May 28.Come Saturday, motorists found riding without helmets within the city limits, would be booked under the Motor Vehicles Act, the traffic police said. For the first offence, the fine may be `100 only. But it may well exceed `300, subsequently.The reason behind this strict implementation of the compulsory helmet rule is the spurt in the number of fatal two-wheeler accidents in the city in last two years. The city witnessed 108 two- wheeler accidents in the past five months and 102 riders were fatally injured, as they hadn’t worn helmets. In 2010, out of 255 two-wheeler accidents, 243 victims were found not wearing helmets, according to Sanjay Arora, additional commissioner of police (Traffic).The previous DMK government made wearing helmet mandatory in 2007 and the traffic police want to enforce the rule again due the rising number of accidents. “When we conducted an analysis on the cause of the accident deaths, we found that most of them occurred  due to head injuries. We also cross examined with the medical experts who told us that any injury on the head could even maim a person for life,” said a senior police officer attached to the traffic investigation wing.It should be noted that when the previous government implemented the compulsory helmet rule, advocates and civil rights activists cried foul that the move was aimed at helping helmet manufacturers gain huge profits and the police collect more bribe from the public. PMK founder Dr. S Ramadoss even appealed to the government to exempt women from wearing helmets while many groups protested against forcing pillion riders to wear helmets. That resulted in the then chief minister M Karunanidhi asking the police not to harass people while enforcing the compulsory helmet rule. The police officials themselves admit that the rule failed because of prevalence of corruption among the traffic police. “Most of the time, if motorists were found violating traffic rules, they are not booked under various charges. Instead, our officers would threaten them saying that if the case was taken to court, they would have to pay a hefty amount, and demanded bribe of `100 and above from the violators,” said the senior police officer, unwilling to be named.“If the Bangalore police can implement the traffic rules in full spirit, why can’t we do the same in Chennai,” asks the senior officer. “In Bangalore, it doesn't matter if it is a VIP or a rich businessman, if they are found violating the traffic rules, the traffic police fine them on the spot and issue electronic bills. If the violators try to use their influence, their vehicles are towed to the city police commissioner’s office, and more fine is collected, he added.Implementation of any rule should go hand-in-hand with police reforms, in order to get optimal result, the officer added.However, the officer believed that the mandatory helmet rule would not bring down the number of accident-related deaths in the city unless the overall traffic management system in the city was revamped. This is a huge task and requires coordination with the Chennai Corporation and the transport department. “Most of the pavements have turned into parking lots and in some places business establishments occupy them. Many travel agencies too run their offices from the parked cars on the roadside,” said the officer.