The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Helmet rule put on hold for now

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Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Helmet rule put on hold for now

Major reason was difficulty in procuring helmets locally, writes
Rajesh B. Nair

The implementation of helmet rule has been temporarily put on hold owing to administrative and logistical issues.

Following the visit of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal and subsequent meetings he had with Chief Minister and other officials, at a hurriedly convened press meet on June 28 Superintendent of Police (Traffic) S. Kuppusamy a nnounced the decision to make helmet wearing compulsory from July 1.

The next day, he announced the decision to extend the deadline to July 10 following public demand for more time to procure helmets. Subsequently, on July 10, he announced the decision to “postpone indefinitely” the implementation of the rule.

Mr. Kuppusamy said the decision was taken as the Chief Minister had asked the Director-General of Police to postpone the implementation of the order. Several police officers said the flip-flop on the issue had caused embarrassment to the force. “Not much consultation was done on the deadline. It was only a knee-jerk reaction,” a senior officer said.

When asked for reaction, Inspector-General of Police S. Vasudeva Rao told The Hindu, “The decision had been put on hold owing to certain logistical and administrative reasons. We will try to arrive at a consensus and take everyone on board when the decision is implemented.”

The foremost reason to postpone the implementation was complaints with regard to difficulty in procuring helmets locally. The region has a two-wheeler population of 3.75 lakh, of which 1.5 lakh were in the town region alone, a traffic personnel said.

Sources in the government said the decision of the Police Department to announce the date without a formal order from the government citing powers vested for them under Section 129 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 had not gone down well with a section of the leaders.

The police have been told to present the issue before the next meeting of the Standing Committee on Traffic before taking a decision, they said. However, a senior official in the Traffic Department said the Standing Committee had given its approval in 2006 to make helmet wearing compulsory.

It was a long-pending demand of the police to make helmet wearing compulsory as fatal accidents were on the rise. While 161 fatal accidents were reported in 2006, the number rose to 198 in 2007, a senior traffic personnel said. On an average the Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Postgraduate Institute here attends to around 15 serious head injury cases, the Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research attends to five cases every month, according to medical personnel.

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