Over 36 lakh motorists without helmet, seatbelt booked till July

Till July, the authorities have booked 27.23 lakh persons for riding a two-wheeler without a helmet. The cases booked for driving without fastening seat belt have touched 6.79 lakh while 2.75 lakh cases were booked for using a mobile phone while driving.

The number of cases booked for helmetless driving has gone above the target fixed for reducing the violations. For helmetless driving, the target fixed is 46.68 lakh and it has already touched 27.23 lakh till July. The target set for seat belts is 9.30 lakh and it has touched 5.42 lakh.

A senior transport department official said that strict enforcement of the traffic violation, especially compulsory wearing of helmet by two-wheeler riders and pillion riders, has slightly brought down the number of deaths due to two-wheeler accidents. Till July, 2,229 two-wheeler riders and pillion riders have been killed in accidents. Of them, 1,210 deaths were because helmets were ignored.

The official added that the total number of accidents and fatalities have come down by 9 per cent and 13 per cent during in July when compared to the corresponding period last year. “Till July, 34,804 accidents have been reported with 6,522 fatalities. In the corresponding period last year, 3,8491 accidents were registered, in which 7,526 persons were killed,” the official said.

RTI activist V Gopalakrishnan said that with the Centre steeply hiking the fines for traffic rule violations, the government should consider providing quality helmets with the ISI mark at cheaper rates to those who are booked for helmetless driving.