Figures released by the traffic police indicate that people driving two-wheelers pay more than Rs58,000 per day as fine for not wearing a helmet.
It seems owners of two-wheelers in the city prefer to pay fines instead of wearing helmets while driving.
Figures released by the traffic police indicate that people driving two-wheelers pay more than Rs58,000 per day as fine for not wearing a helmet.
Recently, in an effort to implement the helmet rule strictly, the Ahmedabad police commissioner had ordered that riders
without the mandatory headgear be detained.
But protests by some groups and the general reluctance among ordinary people to wear helmets put an end to the police's plans. Traffic police had to revert to the old policy of collecting Rs50 or, in some cases Rs100, as fine from riders without helmets.
During the first eight months of the current year, traffic police collected a whopping Rs1.40 crore from drivers using two-wheelers without helmets.
Between January 1 and August 31 this year, the traffic police registered more than 2.80 lakh cases against riders for not wearing helmets and collected Rs 1.40 crore as fine. This is 22% of Rs6.39 crore which is the total amount collected as fine by the police for all traffic offences during this period.
Traffic police can collect fines not only for driving two-wheelers without helmets but also for not wearing seat belts, wrong parking, driving dangerously, rash driving, etc.
Nilesh Jajadia, DCP (Traffic), said that the amount collected as fine itself shows how indifferent riders are about their own
safety. He said that the fine is a symbolic measure
intended to encourage riders to wear helmets but it is not effective.
"City residents must understand their responsibility and wear helmets. Otherwise, a fine of just Rs50 cannot stop them from breaking the rule again and again," said Jajadia.
The police officer believes that strict measures must be implemented to make owners of two-wheelers wear helmets while driving.
He believes the best thing to do would be to raise the amount charged as fine for not wearing helmet to, say, Rs100. Another option is to seize the driver's license if he is a habitual offender, though for this to be implemented, the e-challan system has to be in place first, Jajadia said.
"The proposal to implement these measures has already been sent to higher authorities," he said
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