Improving road safety: Wear a helmet or get off the road, police tell motorcyclists

Offenders will be fined, their motorcycles seized and returned only after helmet is bought


Sajid Rauf July 02, 2019
ILLUSTRATION: MOHSIN ALAM

KARACHI: The Karachi Police will no longer tolerate motorcyclists plying the roads without helmets. Those who dare to do so will be fined and their vehicle seized.

“We are past the time for an awareness campaign,” said the Traffic Police DIG Javed Ali Maher. “Now a challan will registered against those without a helmet and their motorcycle will also be seized,” said the DIG explaining the campaign being launched now. “The motorcycle will only be returned after the procurement of a helmet by the motorcyclist.”

The special campaign against motorcyclists plying their vehicles without helmets kicked off across the city on Monday after several warnings were issued by the law enforcers through the mainstream media as well as awareness camps. The campaign was kicked off at an event attended by senior police officials near Hotel Metropole on Monday morning.

Briefing the media, DIG Maher said citizens had been informed of this campaign since May and banners were put up on various thoroughfares of the city. They were reminded again at an event 10 days earlier that the campaign would be launched from July 1. The traffic DIG remarked that the purpose of informing citizens of the campaign well in advance was to give them time to buy helmets and reduce the number of challans during the campaign.

Besides, the trader community has extended support for the campaign. Partnering with traffic police, they have set-up stalls selling helmets at discounted prices in 13 different areas of the city, including Sharae Faisal, to facilitate motorcylists, said Maher. The helmets at these stalls are being sold at 15% less than the market price, and while there is no compulsion to purchase helmets from these stalls, seized motorcycles will only be returned after a helmet is bought by the reprimanded motorcyclists, apprised the DIG, adding that others who wish to sell helmets at reduced prices could also partner with the traffic police.

Road safety: ‘Motorcyclists sans helmets won’t be refuelled’

The idea

In case of road accidents, the largest number of fatalities is caused by injuries to the head. Motorcyclists are particularly vulnerable in such incidents as their vehicle leaves them exposed and susceptible to injuries even if there is a minor hit or slight collision.

Helmets are effective in lowering the probability of head injuries and their severity in case an accident occurs. Increasing helmet use has been part of improving road safety strategy in several countries across the globe and is encouraged by the World Health Organisation as well.

While wearing a helmet is advisable for anyone on a motorcycle, or any two-wheeler vehicle, the traffic police’s campaign will specifically target the person driving the motorcycle and issue challans if they are without a helmet.

According to a report by WHO on ‘Why are helmets needed,’ wearing a helmet is the single most effective way of reducing head injuries and fatalities resulting in motorcycle and bicycle crashes. “Motorcyclists who do not wear helmets are at a much higher risk of sustaining head injuries and from dying from these injuries. In addition, riders who do not wear helmets place additional costs on hospitals, while the disability that results from these head injuries incurs costs at an individual, family (or carer) and societal level,” reads the report. It states that wearing a helmet reduces the risk and severity of injuries by 72%. The likelihood of death is decreased by up to 39%.

According to the Edhi Foundation’s report, as many as 797 people lost their lives while 16,980 people were injured in road accidents in Karachi in 2018 alone. Moreover, around 60 percent of these accidents involved motorcycles.

Similarly, a study conducted by the orthopaedics department at Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre from January 2017 to December 2017, found that head and neck injuries were the third most common in road accidents as most bikers don’t use helmets. “Wearing helmets prevents severe injuries,” concluded the study. “Creating awareness among motorcyclists regarding helmet wear and protective clothing and strictly following traffic rule and laws, many accidents and subsequent injuries can be prevented,” it reads.

Traffic police urge bikers to use helmet 

Ensuring road safety

“The only objective behind initiating the campaign is to ensure safety of citizens on the road. It is part of the traffic police’s duty to do so,” said the DIG on Monday, while stressing it was highly dangerous to be on a motorcycle without a helmet.

According to data collected in 2018, 19 locations in Karachi were termed sensitive as more citizens had lost their lives or received critical injuries in road accidents in those areas.  Statistically, not wearing helmets worsened casualties in such incidents. Reducing the death toll because of road accidents is another objective of the campaign.

Maher said that the traffic police will be especially active on Sharae Faisal since it is a major thoroughfare of the city. Two shifts of section officers will perform duties at Sharae Faisal and will also patrol the area. “Action will be taken against anyone on a motorcycle without a helmet.”

Traffic police will also remain active in other areas and challans will be issued to people on motorcycles without helmets.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2019.

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