Over 1,500 fined in a day for violating the ‘double helmet’ orders

According to the Islamabad Traffic Police, hundreds of others were also ticketed

ISLAMABAD: After a month-long awareness drive, the traffic police have started enforcing the rule for using helmets, even for pillion riders in the capital. The Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) fined 1,500 motorcyclists for violating the ‘double helmet’ orders in a single day.

Hundreds of others were ticketed on Thursday, ITP officials said.

The new regulation came into effect on Wednesday morning, making helmets compulsory for motorbike pillion riders too, in addition to the driver.

ITP squads enforcing the new safety regulation have been deployed along various roads in the city.

When asked, an ITP spokesperson said that the driver of a motorbike will be penalised if his pillion rider is not wearing a helmet.

The initiative was launched after media reports about rising road traffic accidents in the capital in recent years.

Traffic SSP Malik Matloob said that they were hoping to reduce the fatalities from motorbike accidents in the capital.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2017.