A choice of life and death
Published Date: 6/5/2007 - (NIE)
T S SEKARAN & A SELVARAJ
Chennai, May 29: Thirty-year-old Rubesh Kumar, a video cameraman, meets with an accident on Kamaraj Salai and sustains head injuries. He dies in hospital on June 3. He was not wearing a helmet.
~ June 2: Venkat (35) of West Mambalam survives an accident near Nerkundram with minor injuries. He was wearing a helmet. ~ June 3: Babu escapes with minor injuries after an accident involving his motorcycle and a bus. He was wearing a helmet. But his wife Ammu alias Balasundari, riding pillion, dies. She was not wearing a helmet.
~ June 3: A two-wheeler hits a road median near Vallavur Kottam. Meenakshisundaram (28) a software professional, the bike rider, hits his head on the road, and dies on the spot. He was not wearing a helmet. His co-rider who was wearing one, survives.
Chennai, June 4: In all these cases, the helmet proved to be the difference between life and death.
‘‘If only Rubesh had been wearing a helmet, his three-year-old child would still have had its father,’’ observed the doctor who had attended on him in a city hospital. It was on Saturday morning, a day after the compulsory helmet rule came into force, that the Chief Minister directed the police not to implement it ‘‘very vigorously.’’
This was a signal enough for the police not to act, and within hours of the announcement, several two-wheeler riders could be seen on the city roads without helmets.
These reporters were witnesses to twowheeler riders whizzing past police patrol vehicles and even RTO offices blissfully without helmets, with no fear of penal action. With the government now ‘clarifying’ that wearing of helmets by women and children riding pillion is optional, top police officials have been wringing their hands.
‘‘We really don’t know what to do. There is no clear course of action. Are we to start booking those who don’t wear helmets, or leave it to their good senses?’’ wondered a senior officer in obvious despair.
Worse still, even policemen, who were the first to fall in line much before the helmet law became mandatory, have stopped using helmets, he said.
Published Date: 6/5/2007 - (NIE)
T S SEKARAN & A SELVARAJ
Chennai, May 29: Thirty-year-old Rubesh Kumar, a video cameraman, meets with an accident on Kamaraj Salai and sustains head injuries. He dies in hospital on June 3. He was not wearing a helmet.
~ June 2: Venkat (35) of West Mambalam survives an accident near Nerkundram with minor injuries. He was wearing a helmet. ~ June 3: Babu escapes with minor injuries after an accident involving his motorcycle and a bus. He was wearing a helmet. But his wife Ammu alias Balasundari, riding pillion, dies. She was not wearing a helmet.
~ June 3: A two-wheeler hits a road median near Vallavur Kottam. Meenakshisundaram (28) a software professional, the bike rider, hits his head on the road, and dies on the spot. He was not wearing a helmet. His co-rider who was wearing one, survives.
Chennai, June 4: In all these cases, the helmet proved to be the difference between life and death.
‘‘If only Rubesh had been wearing a helmet, his three-year-old child would still have had its father,’’ observed the doctor who had attended on him in a city hospital. It was on Saturday morning, a day after the compulsory helmet rule came into force, that the Chief Minister directed the police not to implement it ‘‘very vigorously.’’
This was a signal enough for the police not to act, and within hours of the announcement, several two-wheeler riders could be seen on the city roads without helmets.
These reporters were witnesses to twowheeler riders whizzing past police patrol vehicles and even RTO offices blissfully without helmets, with no fear of penal action. With the government now ‘clarifying’ that wearing of helmets by women and children riding pillion is optional, top police officials have been wringing their hands.
‘‘We really don’t know what to do. There is no clear course of action. Are we to start booking those who don’t wear helmets, or leave it to their good senses?’’ wondered a senior officer in obvious despair.
Worse still, even policemen, who were the first to fall in line much before the helmet law became mandatory, have stopped using helmets, he said.
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