The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Helmets to be must for children too

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 05, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Helmets to be must for children too

Special Correspondent

Government firm on enforcing rule from July 31

Bangalore: In less than a month from now, two-wheeler riders, including those riding pillion, may have to wear crash helmets. The Government has made it clear it will not extend the July 31 deadline.

The rule will cover two-wheeler riders in the entire Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority limits; that means all the outer suburbs and the Outer Ring Road included. Five other city corporations are also included in the order.

Officials in the Transport Department said that once the order came into effect it would be implemented by the traffic police. As the helmet rule would be an amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act, fines could be imposed on violators.

A study by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience on road accidents involving two-wheelers, based on data collated over five years, had found that incidents of head injuries had always increased whenever the helmet rule had been relaxed. Most fatalities in two-wheeler accidents are owing to head injuries. Neurologists at the institute had favoured helmets for pillion riders as well.

The State Government appointed a task force in 2002 to go into the aspects of public health and safety, with reference to road safety. The task force headed by H. Sudarshan then recommended making crash helmets mandatory.

The helmet rule had been brought in and then repealed by successive governments because many two-wheeler riders objected to it for reasons ranging from hair loss to safety for helmets kept on a vehicle.

Another objection had been to making it compulsory for pillion riders as well to wear helmets. Many parents regularly drop their children to school on two-wheelers and have questioned the suitability of making children wear helmets for relatively short distances.

The city police have said that children riding on motorcycles and scooters could not be exempted from the rule.

The helmet rule also prescribes that helmets should have been tested and certified with the ISI mark for safety. Hard hats of the type worn by construction site workers would not do, the police say.

Shops selling helmets reported a steady sale but are worried about cheaper models sold on roadsides.

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