hile efforts taken by the city police during the last one month have resulted in increase in the number of two-wheeler riders wearing helmets, more action is needed to ensure 100 per cent compliance by the pillion riders.
And, the police say they are now focusing on registering cases against pillion riders.
Earlier, the police exempted women and children pillion riders from wearing helmets based on an old direction from the High Court. In a new direction, the court has made it mandatory for all pillion riders to wear helmets. Hence, cases will be registered even if the two-wheeler rider is wearing a helmet and the pillion rider is not. Wearing helmets was made mandatory from July 1, based on a direction from the Madras High Court.
A senior police officer said that more than 90 per cent of the two-wheeler riders in the city were wearing helmets from the first day and the compliance was almost 98 per cent now. This was reflected in the number of cases registered against riders.
Almost 25 per cent of the cases against two-wheeler riders in early July were for not wearing helmets. The number had dwindled to 10 per cent now and the rest was for pillion riders not complying with the norm.
While an average 1,960 cases were registered a day during the first three days of the intensive drive carried out by the police to make helmets mandatory, it came down to about 624 cases a day in the last few days of that month.
Field level police officers said they did not register cases against offenders in the mornings, as they did not want the public to undergo hardships while going to office. It is learnt that a majority of the cases were registered in the evening.
Another senior police officer said that the increase in number of persons wearing helmets reflected in the drop in number of deaths of two-wheeler riders in accidents in the city limits in July 2015 compared to July 2014.
Statistics show that 31 persons including 20 two-wheeler riders died in road accidents in the city last July. This year in July, 16 persons died in road accidents, including eight two-wheeler riders.
