Wear a helmet for your own safety, not fear of fines

Police say many citizens do not wear helmets despite knowing that it can save lives

There may be safety in numbers, but here, there is disappointment and shame. In the first five months of the year, the traffic department has fined over 16 lakh people for helmetless riding and collected Rs 80 crore in fines. Data from the traffic department showed that Pune accounted for nearly half the violations, followed by Mumbai and Thane.

Officials have said that the number of helmetless riders would actually be much more considering that these numbers are just from 10 cities/districts.

This state of affairs is bitterly disappointing and a pointer that we have learnt little even from the numerous drives being conducted across the city for helmetless riding. There has been so much information about the dangers of riding without a helmet. Yet, for some reason, bikers believe that no harm can come to them. There is a tendency to think that the accident, the fatal crash always happens to the other person, not to you.

In some instances, bikers have worn plastic headgear or very substandard helmets that offer no protection at all. Fines or punitive action cannot solve this problem. It is a change in attitude that can bring permanent and everlasting change. When one obeys or observes a certain guideline simply because of the fear of getting fined by the traffic police, this is not real change with the belief that this practice is good for you. It is simply the prospect of a fine that has made you use a helmet, and that is always dangerous as you will revert to your old ways if you think you can get away with it.

These numbers come at a time when we should be thinking of imposing helmets on pillion riders as they too need to be safe. We have so many fatalities of pillion riders. Use your heads, riders.