Jamshedpur : Riding bike without helmet or without valid documents, be prepared to loosen your purse. In the initiative by the district traffic police to combat unsafe biking in the steel city entire traffic machinery has been pressed into service for implementing �spot fine� on traffic violators.
The effort is being taken under the directive of the senior superintendent of police Amol V Homkar to keep a tight leash on teenage bikers and youngsters with a penchant for stunt rides on fancy modified bikes.
Traffic deputy superintendent of police RM Sinha said that the drive would continue till further orders from higher-ups and the youngsters develop a habit of safe riding within city limits.
�The basic objective is not to charge fines and fill up state coffers but to drive home the virtues of safe riding and not putting self and other lives at risk on the roads. We are laying focus specially on riding without helmets. I have directed the officials at all the four traffic police stations to give priority to this exercise both in the morning and in the evening,� he said.
However, traffic officials have been asked to exercise restraint in the face of bikers giving �genuine� reasons for not taking helmets while riding.
Sakchi traffic police station official said that on instruction they show leniency to those bikers who give valid excuses of not using helmets.
�I left two bikers who were taking elderly persons as pillion riders to Tata Main Hospital and Sakchi dispensary after they showed me company medical books. Similarly, I left a youth riding a bike after being informed that he was part of funeral ceremony,� he said.
As per Motor Vehicles Inspection (MVI) rules fines for various offences while riding bikes are as follows- without helmet (Rs 270), without insurance documents (Rs 1000), without driving license (Rs 500) and without vehicle pollution test certificate (Rs 1000).
However, riders claim that most of the pollution testing centers run by Jharkhand State Pollution Control Boards (JSPCB) are dysfunctional in the city and hence rationale of levying spot fines for not possessing pollution testing certificates is unjustified.
Traffic official however stressed that instruction have been given to officials to lay emphasis on safety rules pertaining to helmets, driving license and insurance documents only.
