A STAFF REPORTER
A couple on a motorcycle died after being hit by a lorry in Howrah last Wednesday. Their five-year-old son was critically injured. None was wearing a helmet.
Officers of Calcutta police said cases of people riding two-wheelers without the mandatory helmet were on the rise. More than 6,000 riders — a “small fraction” of the total number of violators, according to cops — were booked in the past three months for not wearing helmets.
A couple of days after the Howrah mishap, Metro scanned a few busy crossings only to find that heads without helmets were a norm rather than an exception. And in almost all instances of law violation, cops were mute spectators.
“It is impossible to book every violator,” said an officer of the traffic police. “During peak hours you will find countless bike-borne people without helmets in every crossing.”
The fine for riding, or pillion-riding, a two-wheeler is Rs 100. “It’s too low an amount to act as a deterrent,” the officer added.
And if biker Lucky Ghosh is to be believed, a violator, if caught, can always bribe his way out by coughing up Rs 20. “If it is that easy to escape law, why bother wearing a helmet,” said Ghosh, while zooming down BB Ganguly Street in central Calcutta without the headgear.
While law violation is rampant across the city, senior officers at Lalbazar only expressed helplessness. “Despite repeated appeals and warnings, motorists are not bothered to wear helmets. Sergeants have been asked to prosecute each and every offender,” said Dilip Banerjee, the deputy commissioner of police (traffic department).
Why do people take such risks?
The police may not be watching or if they catch you,you may get away with a swagger of having escaped with a bribe of just Rs 20.00.
But your life is your own.
God has given it to you to cherish and protect it and use it for the purpose He sent you to the world.
I have a near relative.
My elder sister's sister-in-laws daughter.Age around 40.Two sons, one 12, the other 15.
On Thursday, Rakhi Poonam, she had gone to her in-law's place at Belur to tie Rakhi, pillion riding behind her own brother, on a Hero Honda motor cycle.
Ladies avoid using a helmet as it spoils there hair and looks.
She was no exception. She was also very weak.
The motor cycle stopped at a traffic light.
When the lights turned green, the motor cycle sped off, without her.
She had fallen off.
When passers-by shouted that a lady had fallen off, the brother turned and found his sister had fallen off.
He rushed hack.
She had hit her head on the road, was bleeding profusely and had become unconscious.
He took her to the nearest nursing home but they refused to admit her saying they did not have facilities for emergencies.
He visited two other places but was refused there too.
Finally he asked them where she could be admitted.
They then advised AMRI.
He took he to AMRI.
There they operated on her but she had gone under coma and was put under a respirator.
She DIED this morning, without coming out of coma.
IF SHE HAD WORN A HELMET, WHO KNOWS, SHE MAY STILL HAVE BEEN ALIVE.
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