The Hindu Business Line : Pune residents divided over mandatory helmet usage rule

WITH barely three weeks to go before a proposed State Government move to make usage of helmets compulsory, denizens of Pune city are at cross-roads with all parties concerned sticking to their own stand on the issue.

While a section of the populace is questioning the legality of the move to make helmets compulsory on the grounds that it infringes on their personal freedom, the Pune police are still awaiting an official Government notification in this regard, which will allow them to impose the rule. Organisations working on increasing safety on the city's roads, meanwhile, are stepping up efforts to increase awareness about the importance of using helmets and are pointing out to a WHO report which says that use of the helmet reduced fatalities in road accidents.

What makes the entire brouhaha over the Government's decision even more bizarre is the fact that the number of reasons being thrown up on why the helmet is detrimental to the user. A public debate on the issue on Monday saw a prominent sports medicine practitioner went on record saying prolonged helmet use resulted in damage to the cervical column. Committed anti-helmet lobbyists took to the platform to say that use of the helmet obstructs both hearing and proper vision on the road while yet others said it was a ploy by helmet manufacturers to push sales!

``The use of helmets has been mandatory in Delhi since 1976 so why is it that there is such a hue and cry over it being made so in Pune,'' questions city-based traffic activist, Mr Chandmal Parmar. ``How can people say their personal freedom is being infringed by the Government when the fact remains that human life is so precious. A helmet could make the vital difference between death due to brain damage and escaping with your life in a road accident,'' he said.

Mr Parmar, who is also part of the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) panel which is currently studying ways to improve the design of helmets, said efforts are being made to reduce its weight and change the design so that it does not prove an encumbrance to the user.

This is the second time in two years that the helmet controversy is rocking Pune. In 2002, a group of college students approached the Bombay High Court requesting it to direct the State to make helmets compulsory.

The Government immediately initiated action on the court's directive but the entire effort went put when a section of the public opposed. The State Government stepped in at this point, approaching the court with an affidavit, which said the prevailing law and order situation made it unwise for it to carry the rule through. The Government, at that point, said it would prepare an action plan whereby the rule would be implemented in a phased manner and the current move is seen as the implementation of the promise made to the court.

``The rule has to be implemented but what will surely help is for the police to do the enforcement in a sensitive, phased manner so that the first fortnight allows people to get used to the idea,'' Mr Parmar said.

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