The Hyderabad high court on Monday gave 15 days to the transport authorities of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to give a report on the concrete steps taken to ensure that every two-wheeler rider has a helmet on their head.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale and Justice S V Bhatt, while hearing a plea by Vudataneni Rama Rao, a practicing advocate, said Hyderabadis are not wearing helmets and the onus is on both the governments to enforce the law.
Rama Rao had filed the petition complaining about the disappearance of helmets and the silence by the authorities. "We are also observing the fact that a lot of bike riders are not wearing helmets in Hyderabad these days," Justice Bhosale said.
The order comes at a time when the police are under huge pressure to implement the law, especially with the rising number of fatalities in two-wheeler accidents in the city. While the World Health Organization (WHO) and the city police are trying to curb accidents by embarking on a drink driving campaign, precious little is being done to implement the helmet rule. The Hyderabad traffic police had launched the helmet rule with gusto in 2005, when Tejdeep Kaur Menon was the traffic police chief, but the rule was put in the cold storage citing 'political pressure'. Subsequently , her successors, including former police commissioner A K Khan, tried to enforce the rule strictly but failed. An analysis of post-mortem reports of 130 two-wheeler accident victims across the city in 2012 showed how 76% deaths occurred due to injuries sustained in the head. In 2011, 2,630 road accidents were recorded in Hyderabad, of which 1,200 involved two wheeler riders and 130 of them lost their lives. When the bench asked as to what the transport authorities were doing to implement section 129 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which makes it mandatory to wear helmet, Telangana special government counsel A Sanjeev Kumar said they had collected penalties from 92,164 two-wheeler riders since June 2014. We have asked the district collectors and SPs to organize awareness campaigns all over the state, he said.
Transport commissioner Sandeep Kumar Sultania has issued a circular asking officials to hold awareness campaigns on a regular basis. The transport commissioner has already given directions to joint transport commissioners and deputy transport commissioners to launch the helmet drive in a massive way, Sanjeev Kumar said.
Meanwhile, petitioner V Rama Rao also said that the top portions of the front lights of vehicles have to be blackened, but it is not being done. "Authorities have to ensure implementation of this provision as it will avert a lot of accidents," Rao said. Polluting vehicles have to be phased out by organizing regular checks, he added. The matter will come up for hearing again after 15 days.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale and Justice S V Bhatt, while hearing a plea by Vudataneni Rama Rao, a practicing advocate, said Hyderabadis are not wearing helmets and the onus is on both the governments to enforce the law.
Rama Rao had filed the petition complaining about the disappearance of helmets and the silence by the authorities. "We are also observing the fact that a lot of bike riders are not wearing helmets in Hyderabad these days," Justice Bhosale said.
The order comes at a time when the police are under huge pressure to implement the law, especially with the rising number of fatalities in two-wheeler accidents in the city. While the World Health Organization (WHO) and the city police are trying to curb accidents by embarking on a drink driving campaign, precious little is being done to implement the helmet rule. The Hyderabad traffic police had launched the helmet rule with gusto in 2005, when Tejdeep Kaur Menon was the traffic police chief, but the rule was put in the cold storage citing 'political pressure'. Subsequently , her successors, including former police commissioner A K Khan, tried to enforce the rule strictly but failed. An analysis of post-mortem reports of 130 two-wheeler accident victims across the city in 2012 showed how 76% deaths occurred due to injuries sustained in the head. In 2011, 2,630 road accidents were recorded in Hyderabad, of which 1,200 involved two wheeler riders and 130 of them lost their lives. When the bench asked as to what the transport authorities were doing to implement section 129 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which makes it mandatory to wear helmet, Telangana special government counsel A Sanjeev Kumar said they had collected penalties from 92,164 two-wheeler riders since June 2014. We have asked the district collectors and SPs to organize awareness campaigns all over the state, he said.
Transport commissioner Sandeep Kumar Sultania has issued a circular asking officials to hold awareness campaigns on a regular basis. The transport commissioner has already given directions to joint transport commissioners and deputy transport commissioners to launch the helmet drive in a massive way, Sanjeev Kumar said.
Meanwhile, petitioner V Rama Rao also said that the top portions of the front lights of vehicles have to be blackened, but it is not being done. "Authorities have to ensure implementation of this provision as it will avert a lot of accidents," Rao said. Polluting vehicles have to be phased out by organizing regular checks, he added. The matter will come up for hearing again after 15 days.
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