It was a different experience for the city police to get an email from a Chennai resident thanking them for saving his life by stringent enforcement of wearing helmets. “Traffic police are used to the heated arguments and quarrels with public who are caught without helmets. Some had even taken pain to call me over phone and argue for booking cases against them,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R. Sivakumar told The Hindu .
It was not the first bike trip to Ooty for E. Anbu (43), who is a regional manager for a suture supplies company.
The resident of Velachery in Chennai bought a helmet about five years ago when the police started stringent enforcement. After the Madras High Court made wearing helmets mandatory for all two-wheeler riders Anbu dutifully carried it with him all the time.
“Seventy per cent of the time it was on my fuel tank. I wore it when I spotted a police. I was even caught by the police a few times and paid a fine. But still did not wear it,” he told The Hindu over phone.
Earlier this month, he had to make a short business trip to Ooty and decided to take his friend’s bike from Coimbatore. On the warning given by his friends, about strict helmet enforcement here, he brought his helmet from Chennai.
The incident took place around 5.30 in the evening on April 7, when he was returning to Coimbatore on Coonoor to Mettupalayam Road and crossed Burliar. “Workers fixing stones on the side of the hill to avoid mud falling had left the mud on the road near a sharp curve. I applied the brake to avoid skidding and ramming against a bus and fell down,” he recalled.
Thrown away from the vehicle, he landed with his head on the ground. “My helmet saved my head from hitting the tar road hard. Without it (helmet) I would have died or been paralysed,” he said.
He escaped with scratches on his hands managed to drive to Coimbatore and got first aid.
On Saturday, he wrote an email to the police thanking them for making helmets mandatory and saving lives.
