20K helmet rule violators booked in the city

However, while they showed no leniency on those riding without helmet, police were going easy on pillion riders for not wearing helmet – which was something that the court insisted upon.

In all, a fine amount of Rs 20 lakh was collected in the city in just a day. In fact, traffic police are yet to revise the fine amount from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000 for traffic violations, as they still have not received the copy of the draft amendment of the Motor Vehicle Act introduced recently by the Central government,sources said.

All across the city, traffic police personnel could be seen booking violators. Additional strength of Armed Reserve Personnel was also deployed to enforce traffic rules. Apart from imposing a fine on the offenders, they were also given a briefing on the importance of wearing helmet.

A senior police officer said that the crackdown on helmetless travel would continue in the coming days as well, and instructions were given to the officers on the ground to implement the helmet rule stringently.

It may be recalled that bench comprising Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad of Madras High Court had sought for a report on the action taken in implementing the helmet rule.

However, at Alandur, the traffic police resorted to a novel method by providing the violators not only awareness about the need for wearing helmets, but also refreshments.

The two-wheeler riders who were intercepted for not wearing helmets were made to sit under a shed where they being provided with juice and water, before being advised to wear helmets for their own safety.

Police admitted that almost 99 per cent of the pillion riders failed to wear helmet. The police as part of the awareness campaign distributed pamphlets on the importance of wearing helmets. They also made those who failed to wear helmets take a pledge that they would wear it from now on, and cooperatewith the police.