Traffic police ‘fail’ to make riders of two-wheelers wear helmets

Tribune News Service

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Jammu, October 16

Putting their life at risk and not caring two hoots about the rules, people are generally found riding two-wheeler without wearing helmet in the city, despite strict measures taken by the traffic police.

In most parts of the city, college and school students could be seen zooming on two-wheelers without wearing helmets, despite clear directions that two-wheeler riders need to wear them. At times riders could be seen talking on mobile phones and roaming around without any safety gear — a leading cause of accidents and fatalities on road.

“Rash driving, two-wheeler riders without helmets and overtaking by rashly driven Matadoors have become norm of the day, while police personnel deployed on the roads do not take any strict steps,” said Rohit Sharma, a government employee.

Though the Traffic Police Department blames the shortage of manpower for the absence of police personnel at key areas, but it is “corruption at various levels in the department” that is responsible for mismanagement of traffic. “Much talked about ‘Traffic Police on Facebook’ and installation of cameras have also not yielded much positive results as the pressure on the roads is quite huge,” said Kamlesh Kumar, a shopkeeper at New Plot.

Officials said on an average 600 people were being challaned everyday for overloading, speeding, rash-driving, riding two-wheelers without crash helmet, overcharging by auto-rickshaws, jumping of red lights and wrong parking.