KANNUR: The use of helmet has increased to 91 percent in Kannur thanks to a week-long campaign “Zero-hour”. While the district had almost 60 percent of helmet users, it dropped down to an all-time low of 40 percent due to elections and other reasons. This was brought back to 91, by the extensive campaign by the police and cooperation of the public.
District police chief Sanjay Kumar Gurudin said 1,893 notices were served during Zero hour to attend awareness classes. “Of these, 1560 persons participated in the classes in various places in the district. The remaining people have requested for a different day due to inconvenience. Collecting the data from stations across the district, I can say, the use of helmet has increased to 91 percent,” said Mr Gurudin.
Though he was happy with the turnout, he adds that the campaign needs to be continued. Else the results would not last. It was on July 24, the district police started the campaign officially, targeting violators. Instead of charging fines, they are asked to attend the awareness classes. On some occasions, when the violators are still reluctant to observe the rules, they would be taken to the victims of accidents.
“The victims of most of the road accidents are either pedestrians or the bikers. Even the serious accidents can be averted, if we pay more attention to the traffic rules. Traffic rules are not merely to charge fine or trouble the public, but for saving lives,” said Mr Gurudin. Every day, the zero-hour will be observed for an hour and violators do not have to pay the fine, but attend the 30-minute class. Interaction sessions with the accident victims and their families are also part of this programme. The classes are arranged at the offices of the circle inspectors.
‘No helmet-no petrol’
The district-level launch of the Motor Vehicles Department’s ‘no helmet no petrol’ campaign was conducted at Kovoor petrol bunk here on Monday. City Police Commissioner Uma Behra inaugurated the event and Regional Transport Officer C. J. Paulson spoke about the details of the campaign. Serial actress Sauparnika Vijay announced the campaign slogan, ‘Wear helmet get petrol, be safe’.
Ms Uma Behra, who spoke, said, “as per the instruction from the State Transport Commissioner, we will conduct checks at petrol bunks across the district and distribute pamphlets to spread awareness in the first phase. ” The RTO said that those found riding without a helmet would initially be advised to wear them and repeated defaulters would attract penalty as per the transport rules.
He instructed petrol bunk owners to install cameras to check bike riders without head gears. “The scheme can be implemented only with the support of the public, petrol bunk owners and the road users,” he added. This year alone, 91 people have died in various accidents in the district. Most of them were bike users who died out of head injuries, he added.
