Helmet fine: Citizens shelled out Rs 14.4 cr since 2016

The Ahmedabad traffic police are cracking a whip on the two-wheeler riders for helmet rule violation while riding on the city roads. Their data reveals that the highest number of offence registered are for not wearing helmets.

As per Ahmedabad traffic police departments data, since 2016 a total of 14.9 lakh offences were registered for not wearing a helmet while riding, and a total of Rs 14.4 crore fine was recovered till now. In 2019 (till April) alone the amount collected has skyrocketed to Rs 3.21 crore which tallies up to an exorbitant amount of Rs 80.46 lakh each month.

The highest number of fines recovered in the single year from helmet offenders was in the year 2018. About 6.64 lakh violaters were registered and a total fine of Rs 6.64 crore was recovered from them. As per senior traffic officials, in 2019, the number of violators will easily cross the last year's numbers. "This year there have been several changes in the department that led to the increase in the number of offences reported and the fine recovered. We have instructed 14 traffic police station in the city, to specifically look into traffic violations and traffic issues. The staff strength that earlier was 800 has been increased to 2200 now."

When questioned about the rise in helmet related offences in the city, Patel said, "We are not specifically targeting the two-wheelers, but the ratio of two- wheelers in the city is more than any pother vehicle. So the offences reported by riders are more."

He further added, "We were not able to cover many junctions earlier due to lack of staff strenght. But now the situation has changed. Apart from that, we have intensified our regular traffic drives which has also made a big difference."

Jatin Parmar, a commuter, said, "We the importance of wearing a helmet, but it's a load to acrry it to places. Also during summer months it adds to the heat."