Jamshedpur : It is now mandatory for pillion riders to wear helmets in the city. Police will now start issuing challans to riders too, if they do not wear helmets.
According to a recent World Health Organization report, India has the highest number of road deaths in a year in the world – 105,725 deaths, followed by China (96,611), the US (42,642) and Russia (35,972).
“This means two persons who die every day in road accidents are two wheeler riders. In India, during the year 2012, a total number of 35,767 two wheeler riders, many of them women, were killed in road accidents. “The main risk factor for motorised two wheeler users is non-use of helmets and head injuries are the major cause of death, injury and disability among them,” the Transport department officials said.
Deputy superintendent of police (traffic) Rakesh Mohan Sinha said that the decision was taken in view of the spate of road mishaps in the city.
�Considering the rising cases of mishaps taking place the two-wheeler riders will have to wear helmet along with the pillion-rider . We will conduct random helmet checking drive, and if found any pillion-rider without a helmet, then he or she will have to pay a penalty of Rs 270 as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act,” said Sinha. He went on add that women pillion-riders will also have to follow the rules.
“We have taken the decision for making the pillion-rider too wear a helmet because the number of pillion-riders falling victim to fatal road mishap in and around the steel city is increasing. The decision to enforce wearing helmet on the pillion-rider is in accordance to the Motor Vehicle Act,” said Sinha.
The senior traffic police officer referred to the tragic road mishap which took place near Garamnalah in Sakchi recently where a a 52-year-old Tata Steel employee, Sanjay Singh, and his 22-year-old daughter died in a road mishap. Both were traveling without helmets.
In another road mishap on the Dimna Road in Mango, a middle-aged man, S K Sarkar, a former employee of Tata Steel was killed after being hit by a truck while crossing an intersection at Dimna Road square on Tuesday. He was a resident of Dimna Colony was rushed to the Tata Main Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
As per information from January 1 till today in all 63 persons have in road mishaps at Jamshedpur. When in most of the cases, the mishap took place between a truck and a two-wheeler.
In three cases the pillion rider was also killed along with the two-wheeler rider. Of the 63 mishap deaths in the city, five persons were killed despite wearing a helmet.