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BJP to Pune police: helmet rule only on highways
Leaders urge police not to make it mandatory for city roads
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders who are opposing the Pune police initiative for mandatory use of helmets by two-wheeler riders have clarified that they are not opposed to road safety.
Anil Shirole, BJP city Member of Parliament (MP) and Yogesh Gogawale, city unit head have said that they are not opposed to road safety issues and that their stand does not contradict the road safety campaign undertaken by their senior party leader and Union minister for road transport and national highways Nitin Gadkari.
“We are only opposing helmet compulsion on arterial roads and local roads in the city,” Gogawale said. He said that often people don’t travel for more than a kilometre to drop their children to schools, for purchasing grocery and other sundry things and on such occasions, the helmet compulsion becomes a burden. He further added “In fact we are supporting compulsion of helmet on state as well as national highways and we are ready to create awareness in this regard.”
Gogawale said the party has requested the city police department to consider these local needs while implementing the court guidelines on compulsion of helmets as very few people have died due to head injuries while riding on the arterial roads.
Pune’s MP Anil Shirole who has urged chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to ask the police not to execute the helmet rule strictly, also reiterated the party’s position on the issue. “We are not opposing public safety. Public safety should always be the top priority but at the same time the police should consider local public sentiments and needs. People always ride slowly on local roads so there are very less chances of accidents. Hence, there is no need of helmet compulsion on these roads,” Shirole said.
While a response from Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari was awaited by HT on the Pune BJP’s opposition to helmets, the party has decided to continue with its opposition to helmets. It has decided to launch an awareness campaign from January 14 urging the police not to press on the compulsion of helmets on arterial roads and local roads in the city.
In every chowk, BJP workers will request the police personnel not to implement helmet compulsion strictly, Gogawale said.
The police on the other hand have reported that in 2018, 182 two-wheeler riders of the 253 killed in fatal road accidents, were found without helmets and 359 others suffered serious injuries.
The wearing of helmets is mandatory under the rules of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 with repeated directives from the courts to the State or the Central Government to enforce the helmet rule.
Section 129 in The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 deals with the wearing of headgear or helmet conforming to the standards of Bureau of Indian Standards.
Helmet drive as per Motor Vehicles Act
The traffic police have maintained that the 231 accidents that took place in Pune in the past one year have been spread across the city roads and it was a misconception that the fatalities were on highways and not on city roads.
Tejasvi Satpute, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said that the traffic police were following the revised 2005 government resolution of the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) which clearly states that the traffic police have power to strictly implement the helmet rule on all city roads, including highways.
“Many residents don’t know that the government resolution has been revised leading to confusion. Many deaths of riders on city roads is caused due to riding without a helmet and we will take strict action to make the city safe for residents,” she said. The city police have filed more than 55,000 cases since the drive began and collected a fine of Rs 2.50 crore from violators. Citizens, including educational institutes, have welcomed the action taken by the traffic police and said that it would lead to increased helmet literacy in the society.
