Safety drive: Don’t forget to wear your helmet today

Traffic department launches campaign against bare-headed motorcyclists.

KARACHI:

To control fatal motorcycle accidents in the city, the traffic police have launched a campaign against motorcyclists who do not use helmets while driving on the roads.

“We regularly check for helmets and fine violators but due to the massive traffic we can’t take risks to stop a motorcycle rider and fine him because then the entire traffic comes to a halt,” said Muhammad Nadeem, an assistant SI of the Kharadar traffic police section.

Nadeem was stopping the riders without helmets at the Mereweather Tower and was issuing a fine of Rs300. Sindh Traffic AIG has directed all police zones to make sure that everybody wears helmets if they ride motorcycles. “We have started the campaign from Monday and are regularly charging the people, who either lash out at us or pretend that the doctor has asked them not to wear a helmet,” said Nadeem, adding that 70 per cent of the riders are not using safety headgear and  a majority of them are either government employees or media personnel. “They show their cards and we become helpless,” he lamented.



“Our FM radio has been very helpful in announcing the benefits of helmets and I have personally seen people getting saved by helmets,” said SI Ashfaq, while narrating a story of an accident at the PIDC where a boy’s head would have been badly injured if he had not been wearing a helmet. “Every policeman tries to fine as much he can especially when a high official starts a specific campaign so everyone wants to win a reward for best performance.”

A resident of old city area, Muhammad Amin, who was charged Rs300 for not wearing a helmet told The Express Tribune that the traffic police starts such campaigns to make money. “No one really cares for anybody’s life in this city,” he said. “How could the traffic police be so vigilant and caring? They will run it for a few days and then they will start taking bribes.”

AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo while talking to The Express Tribune said, “The campaign is for people’s safety, and they should wear it as it their legal responsibility.” He said that the weather is good, so helmet should not be an issue. He further said that 15 people riding motorcycles were killed last year, 12 were seriously injured, and a majority of the deceased were not using a helmet. “We have seen that the people who don’t use a helmet get badly injured or die even in small accidents, through this campaign we will force the people to wear them and once they do that, it will become their routine.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2014.