Mumbai: Helmets compulsory for pillion riders, half of accident fatalities involve 2-wheelers.
Highlights
- Mumbai traffic police on Wednesday issued a notification making helmets mandatory for pillion riders
- Mumbai traffic police also warned of action against those who violate the rule
- The rule will come into effect after 15 days in Mumbai
The Mumbai traffic police on Wednesday (May 25) issued a notification making helmets mandatory for pillion riders as well and warned of action against those who violate the rule.
The rule will come into effect after 15 days, following which the traffic authorities will start taking action against violators, an official said.
As per the notification, the traffic police have found that most two-wheeler riders in the city do not wear helmets and violate traffic norms.
How much is the fine?
At present, the traffic police impose a fine of Rs 500 on helmet-less riders or suspend their licenses.
After 15 days, the same penalty will be imposed on pillion riders found without helmets, the official said.
Data of road accident fatalities:
Meanwhile, more than 47 per cent of deaths caused by road accidents in Mumbai involve two-wheelers which prompted police to make helmets compulsory for pillion riders as well, an official said on Wednesday.
In 2020, 350 people died in 1,812 road accidents in the city, said an official of the Regional Transport Office (RTO).
When traffic police examined the data further, they found that 166 or 47.42 per cent of road accident fatalities involved two- wheelers.
As many as 148 (42.28 per cent) fatalities involved pedestrians, 22 (6.28 per cent) deaths involved four-wheelers, eight (or 2.28 per cent) deaths involved three-wheelers and six (1.71 per cent) victims were bicycle-riders, the official said.
The Mumbai traffic police have issued a notification making helmets mandatory for pillion riders as well.
According to the RTO official, recently the road accident death analysis data was presented in a meeting of the Parliamentary Member Road Safety committee. The panel chaired by Sena MP Arvind Sawant raised concerns about rising road accidents and directed the authorities to take immediate steps to curb two-wheeler accidents, prompting the new helmet decision, he said.
The committee also expressed concern about traffic offenses involving two-wheelers like wrong-side driving, triple-seat riding, rash driving, signal jumping and use of mobile phones while driving, among others.
As of March 31, 2022, Mumbai's vehicle population was 42.85 lakh, of which 25.41 lakh vehicles were two-wheelers, followed by 12.45 lakh four-wheelers and 2.33 lakh auto rickshaws among other types of vehicles, according to RTO data.
The city had witnessed 4.44 per cent rise in vehicle population in FY 2021-2022 and 4.93 per cent growth in the preceding year.
(With PTI inputs)
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