Helmet must for city riders from today

Helmet must for city riders from today
Vijay Times

After much dillydallying over the issue, the State government has finally decided to implement the court order on making helmet-wearing compulsory for two-wheeler riders as a Suvarna Rajyotsava gift to the people of the State.

The rule will come into force from the midnight of Tuesday in the limits of 6 City Corporations of Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, HubliDharwad, Belgaum and Gulbarga. The people of Bellary have been exempted from the rule taking into consideration the high temperature in the region.

However, the government is implementing the court order only piecemeal as it has exempted the pillion-riders from wearing helmets. While the Home Department issued a notification in this regard on Tuesday, City Police Commissioner N Achutha Rao also made an announcement.

It may be recalled that a decision regarding the helmet rule was taken on July 1 and was postponed to August 1, August 15 and September 1.

The government decision had been hanging fire for nearly 13 years during which period the State had seen the reign of six Chief Ministers. The saga started with Verappa Moily. Four others—Deve Gowda, J H Patel, S M Krishna, Dharam Singh—failed to implement the order citing different reasons. Patel and Krishna constituted two committees to study the issue but ignored their recommendations.

Who should wear it

All riders of motor cycles, scooters and mopeds irrespective of their brake horse power

Standard of Helmet

IS -4151-1993 (ISI mark)

Amount of fine

Rs 100 for first time Rs 300 for repeated offence

The City police have geared up to educate the public on the helmet rule, which is coming into effect from Wednesday.

City Police Commissioner N Achuta Rao said slide shows at cinema halls, public announcements at selected circles, traffic awareness campaign, display boards with various helmet-related statistics would form part of the programme. Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic and Safety, M N Reddi, however clarified that the police would not straight away penalise the offenders. He said that those caught riding without helmets over the next few days would be warned/educated.

After that the offenders would be penalised.