Mumbai registers 15,609 cases of helmetless riding in 10 days
Only 1,947 bikers out of the 3951 were given form-B as an acknowledgement that they had watched the videos
Mumbai: In a crackdown on helmetless bikers, the city traffic police in the past 10 days penalised 15,609 violators for riding without helmets and sent 2,446 requests to the Regional Transport Officers (RTO) for licence suspension.
Raj Tilak Roushan, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic HQ) said that when the rider is caught without a helmet, the officers give them an e-challan and after getting the form-A filled, they put in a request with the RTOs to suspend the licence of the violator for a period of three months.
Out of the penalised riders, 3951 persons have been given form-A to fill and were asked to reach the nearest traffic police station and spend two hours watching awareness videos on the consequences of helmetless riding.
However, only 1,947 bikers out of the 3951 were given form-B as an acknowledgement that they had watched the videos.
Roushan said that on average, every day they had been penalising at least 1200 two-wheeler riders for the offence. “The videos have been a part of the awareness campaign depicting consequences of helmetless riding,” said Roushan.
If a rider does not turn up to watch the videos, the traffic police have begun sending reminders to him via text messages to attend the session.
The traffic police recorded 75,000 challans against helmetless riders last month, said Roushan.
The officers said that on April 8, the maximum number of bikers were caught without helmets (1907) followed by April 9 when 1730 bikers were penalised.
Roushan said they are now writing to schools and colleges and would begin to create awareness on helmetless riding and following traffic rules to the youth so that they are aware of the consequences and could also explain them to their parents if they find them flouting rules.
