Actionable plans needed
Reports about bikers getting killed in road mishaps across the state of Jammu and Kashmir has become a routine now. Just last week two such reports made headlines. Two bikers were killed in Ganderbal while one was killed near Awantipora in south Kashmir.
Given the rise in road mishaps involving bikers the government needs to come out with some strict and actionable plans to curtail the mishaps and deaths due to such mishaps.
Though a plan to curtail the injuries and deaths in road mishaps involving the bikers was formulated by the government, but the plan was not executed so effectively. The plan was announced last September to ensure the use of helmets among two wheeler users.
The move initially kick started from Srinagar was aimed at discouraging the two wheeler drivers from avoiding the use of helmets. The district administration in Srinagar asked motorcyclists to use helmets as no fuel station would entertain any biker for providing fuel if the biker happens to be without a helmet.
An order was issued by District Development Commissioner Srinagar saying that large number of road accidents have been reported involving two wheelers in Srinagar city.
The order has warned all fuel pump stations in Srinagar to avoid non helmet users asking them to desist from providing fuel to them at all costs. The move though a novel one was however, ignored right from the day one.
The fuel stations did not follow the rule and even today no biker is questioned by the fuel stations whenever a biker runs in to get fuel. Even the traffic cops manning the roads in Srinagar are no longer following a routine checking plan to increase the use of helmets among the bikers.
Avoiding the use of helmets is a major concern in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Even various campaigns by NGO’s to address the issue also met a dead end as most of the bikers do not use helmets while driving.
The challaning and even seizing of bikes did not work as the bikers continue to avoid the use of helmets.
Surprisingly, the no helmet- no fuel rule was implemented in various other areas including some other districts as well. However, the move proved a dampener as the bikers managed to get fuel at almost fuel stations as nobody questioned them on the use and avoiding of helmets.
The no helmet-no fuel, rule was meant for the safety of the bikers but the way the rule was implemented led to its failure. The government should have ensured novel ways to get the rule implemented and for this the fuel station owners should have been asked to deposit their CCTV footage every week wherein the traffic cops would have checked the footage for violations on their behalf.
This would have created a deterrent for the fuel station owners and they would have ensured to implement the rule in letter and spirit.
Besides, capacity building programmes and awareness schedules need to be initiated for fuel station owners and operators so that the importance of ensuring the use of helmets can be taught to them as well.
KV Network
