Hyderabad: Even as the Telangana government and traffic police are trying to curb traffic violations, the state’s excise minister, T Padma Rao Goud, was found riding pillion with a biker who was not wearing a helmet.
The two were caught on video driving in Tukaram Gate in Secunderabad on Monday. The Hyderabad Traffic Police say they will definitely book a challan against the driver as he was not wearing a helmet.
The minister has got away since in Hyderabad only the two-wheeler driver has to wear a protective helmet.
In 2016, 17, 93,271 persons were booked for not wearing helmets in Hyderabad and Rs 18,092,8,100 was collected in fines. In the three months of this year, 2,68,995 persons have been booked for the same offence and Rs 26,909,500 collected in fines.
S. Adishankar, secretary of the non-government organisation (NGO) Roadkraft, said the incident was “not surprising because many of our ministers and officials don’t follow rules themselves. Actually, it is more important for the pillion rider to wear a helmet. They are not holding on to anything and will get thrown off the vehicle even before the rider, while the rider is holding on to the vehicle.”
He said women who ride pillion with both legs on one side are also not safe. “The rider always sits with legs on both sides. This is more stable but the pillion rider is likely to fall off the vehicle even if it brakes suddenly”"
A senior officer of the Hyderabad Traffic Police said that action against pillion riders without helmets is yet to be imposed in Hyderabad, but "whoever was driving the two-wheeler with the minister will be booked for sure."
He said every day many challans are issued to drivers who flout the helmet rule “so before imposing enforcement on pillion riders for not wearing helmets it is more important in Hyderabad to increase the use of helmets by drivers first. If they know the importance of the helmet they will automatically encourage the pillion rider to use a helmet too.”
