BHOPAL: “I feel suffocated if I wear helmet over the mask.” “What should I wear —mask or helmet?” “I have heard that coronavirus can survive for more than 14 hours on any solid surface, so wearing helmet is not safe.” These are the excuses that Bhopalis have given traffic police when they were stopped at check points for not wearing a helmet.
During Unlock 1.0, traffic movement has gone up sharply in the city. Police say people are social distancing norms specially on two-wheelers. As per the Covid guildeines, only one person is allowed on a two-wheeler. In addition to ignoring the preventive measures against coronavirus, most people can be seen without a helmet.
SI (Traffic) Vivek Gour said that people argue with police when stopped at checking points. They make funny excuses for not wearing helmets and seat belts. The most common ones are “We are supposed to wear mask, we are wearing a mask, do not stop us.”\
Both mask and helmet are important for safety, explain cops, suggesting that bikers can wear fully covered helmets while driving the bike and wear the mask as soon as they remove the helmet.
Traffic cops claimed that they are conducting checking at 22 points in the city during the day and at seven points during the night. Those found violating traffic and social distancing norms are penalised.
Senior traffic cops said, amid Covid crisis, people seem to have forgotten that road deaths due to road accidents are a major concern in the state. Helmets create an additional layer for the head and thus protect the wearer from some of the more severe forms of traumatic brain injury. In almost 90% of casualties in accidents involving two-wheelers, people who were not wearing helmet sustained severe head injuries and died, said a cop.
ASP (Traffic) Pradeep Singh Chouhan said that even though police’s priority at the moment is enforcing lockdown violations, cops are conducting regular checks. Those found spitting on the road are also being penalised. . Chouhan said that around 6000 people have been challaned for violating lockdown norms since June 8. Police are also announcing safety guidelines to be followed at all the major crossing through PA systems. Challans are being issued to violators with the help of ITMS and surveillance CCTV cameras.
Source: Times of India
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