COIMBATORE: Two days after stating that helmet rule would be implemented strictly, Coimbatore city police did not register cases against pillion riders who did not wear helmet on Monday, the first day of the drive.
Police personnel were seen advising people to wear helmet at every junction. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) N Mathivanan said they will start registering cases against violators in a couple of days.
With the number of deaths due to road accidents rising, city police decided to strictly enforce the rule making it mandatory for pillion riders to wear helmets from Monday.
Police plan to raise awareness among bike riders about the importance of wearing a helmet. On Monday, many pillion riders were seen without helmets. When asked, Mathivanan said they wanted to give two days for people to adjust and adapt to the rule. “We will educate them on the importance of the helmet. Traffic police personnel will felicitate those who follow the rule and advise the violators. We have a time limit for this soft approach and will start imposing fine soon,” he said.
He said, a total of seven Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras have already been set up in major junctions in the city. The cameras have been connected to the server of Intelligent Traffic Management System, a web application developed by the National Informatics Centre. The cameras can automatically detect violations; including travelling without helmets and the feeds will be cross-checked at the concerned police stations before a challan is issued.
Besides, the traffic police will take photos of violations manually and upload them to the NIC server. We have also planned to conduct vehicle checks across the city to ensure that people wear helmets. Simultaneously we will make publicity among the public that everyone is under the surveillance of cameras and police,” he added.
D Uma, an advocate said she welcomes the move as it protects the public from accident fatalities. But after the announcement, the helmet price is getting increased in retail outlets and it should be regulated and monitored.