SECURING LIFE: A file photo of a neuro surgeon explaining the importance of two-wheeler riders wearing helmet. — Photo: S. Thanthoni

CHENNAI: Govindasami, 19, was admitted to the Government Royapettah Hospital on March 5 with severe head injuries after his motorbike skidded and collided with another vehicle.

April 14: Satish, 12, is brought with head injuries to the Government General Hospital. He lost his parents and sister on Tiruvallur Road after their two-wheeler was hit by a speeding van. The family was returning after celebrating New Year's Day at Satish's grandparents' place.

"Seventy per cent of two-wheeler causalities are due to head injuries," says a senior traffic police official.

A.V. Srinivasan, professor of neurology with the Madras Medical College, has three patients with head injuries now under his care.

He says he is around thanks to a helmet he was wearing when his motorbike was hit by a speeding van in 1980. "I had multiple fractures and head injuries. But I survived. However, my friend who was not wearing a helmet, died in a similar accident."

And, that is the reason why he decided to specialise in neurology, he says.

As per a State Government report, of the 3,400 two-wheeler deaths, 3,000 died of head injuries in the State in 2003.

In Chennai, 239 two-wheeler drivers and pillion riders lost their lives last year. The toll is 47 till March 2005.

Though the casualties are on the rise, there is hardly any increase in the number of people wearing helmets, says R. Desikan, trustee of CONCERT, a non-governmental organisation working to create road safety awareness.

CONCERT had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition last year before the Madras High Court seeking a directive to the police authorities to make helmets compulsory in the State.

In the PIL, the NGO has said studies prove that wearing helmets reduced the risk of head injury resulting in death.

An opinion survey by the Institute of Road Transport in 2003, also pointed out that most riders said that unless helmet wearing was made mandatory, they tended to avoid it.

The PIL is still pending in the court.And, Mr. Desikan says, "We hope that directions will be issued to make it mandatory to wear helmets."

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