When the judiciary, which was keen on saving the lives of two-wheeler riders, had made wearing helmets mandatory, what prevented the courts from banning liquor in Tamil Nadu which, according to reports and political leaders like Ramadoss and Vaiko, had been claiming the lives of many people every day? This was among the 18 points raised by advocates in Madurai against the use of helmets on Thursday.
Members of the Madurai Bar Association, led by its secretary A.K. Ramasamy, took out a rally on motorcycles without wearing helmets and held a demonstration.
The “interest” shown to make use of helmets mandatory from July 1 was baffling as other aspects had been conveniently forgotten, the advocates said.
Criticising the judgement on wearing of helmets, they raised slogans against police for imposing hefty fines on unsuspecting road users under the guise of executing the court directive.
A signature campaign against the compulsory helmet rule was carried out at Goripalayam junction.
Mr. Ramasamy asked, “What action has the government taken on those contractors who had not laid roads as per contract terms? According to reports, many accidents had turned fatal due to poor roads and bad engineering. Why not the courts look at the pathetic road conditions and pull up the government officials?”
Many other advocates, who participated in the demonstration, criticised the judgement, saying what guarantee could the courts give against a two-wheeler rider getting hit by someone and suffering injuries on other parts of his body due to bad roads, or getting hit by drunk drivers.
