The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : Wear helmet to save your head focus

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Tuesday, Sep 02, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Wear helmet to save your head focus

B. Madhu Gopal

Many have escaped fatal accidents due to this headgear

The helmet rule is still in force: traffic police
They feel that attitude of motorists is important for its effective enforcement

Rule to winds: We don’t care for the rules, seem to be the motto of these young girls who joyfully drive their bikes without helmets

VISAKHAPATNAM: The other day, a woman wondered: “Is the helmet rule still being enforced in the city”? Her husband had received an e-challan asking him to pay a fine for driving a motorcycle without wearing a helmet.

Surprised! There are many motorists who are under the impression that the helmet rule has been kept in abeyance or given the go by. The City Traffic Police, however, say the rule is very much in force but feel that a change in the attitude of motorists was important for its effective enforcement.

The head, which houses the brain, is the most important organ of the body. Injury to the head can result in loss of memory, paralysis of the hands, legs and brain haemorrhage

Every year thousands of two-wheeler riders are losing their lives due to head injuries in road accidents, and wearing helmets could have saved them.

Despite its inherent advantages not many would wear it unless it is made mandatory by law.

There are numerous instances of two-wheeler riders escaping the jaws of death as they wore helmets.

The survivors espouse the benefit of wearing a helmet and those, who hear their tale resolve (like most New Year resolutions) to wear a helmet from the next day but that day doesn’t seem to come for many.

A youth in his 20’s was coming out of a petrol bunk on his bike and entered the highway near NSTL.

Suddenly, a car came at break-neck speed and hit him. He was thrown off the motorcycle and fell on the road. The car dragged him for a distance before coming to a halt. The youth’s neck got entangled under the chassis. Everyone thought that he had died. His collarbone was broken but he survived! The helmet, he was wearing, saved his life.

In another case, a tractor wheel ran over the head of a motorist but he was saved as he was wearing a helmet.

Myths and truths

There are several myths among motorists about the use of helmets. These include a feeling of suffocation, inability to hear the horn of other vehicles and hair fall. On the contrary, wearing a helmet protects the ears from the blaring sound of horns, especially at busy traffic junctions, and prevents headaches and blood pressure.

It also protects the face from the ultraviolet rays of the sun and thereby prevents tanning of the skin.

Two-wheeler riders, especially those who are involved in fieldwork, are exposed to carbon monoxide emissions from vehicular traffic.

The carbon deposits accumulate on the hair and one can know it by observing the black colour of water, which falls from their hair, when one takes a shower.

Those who use a helmet are saved of this problem.

They can also save themselves from the toxic emissions, dust and insects entering the nostrils.

“We have booked 38,826 cases in 2007 collecting a compounding fee of Rs.38,82,600 during 2007. In comparison, we have booked 21,461 cases and collected Rs.21,46,100 till July end this year.

Though we are booking cases, we are not able to concentrate fully on enforcement due to lack of manpower,” says Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) P. Viswa Prasad.

“We are also conducting awareness campaigns like showing slides in theatres. We have plans to intensify the awareness drives besides stepping up enforcement very soon,” he said.

Don’t forget to strap up your helmet. After all, it’s your head.

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