VIJAYAWADA: Out of the 10 people who have recently died in road accidents in the district, eight would have survived if they were wearing helmets. Traffic police’s constant efforts to urge people to wear helmets have little impact on denizens.
None of the victims of the 14 accidents reported in August were wearing helmets. On Sunday night too, two road accident casualties due to not wearing helmets were reported. The bikes on which Mahesh Naik and Subramanyam were travelling on, collided on Yanamalakudur Katta Road on Sunday night, resulting in their deaths.
“This is why we encourage people to wear protective gear while riding motorcycles. It brings down the number of deaths significantly,” DCP Ravi Shankar Reddy said. However, the awareness campaigns organised at workplaces, colleges and schools on the importance of wearing helmets have failed to yield the expected results.
“We have observed that only 30 per cent of two-wheeler riders wear helmets despite there being a fine for not doing so. We are going to impose higher fines on the violators,” he said.
Youngsters who drive their motorcycles rashly on city roads are a cause of concern, police said. Speeding, motorists’ failure to detect motorcycles in traffic and violation of trafwwfic rules are the major reasons for road accidents involving motorcycles. Taking sharp turns and overtaking, hazardous road conditions are the major reasons behind these tragedies.