Mumbai Traffic Police offers certificates to riders for wearing helmet

The Mumbai Traffic Police has started an initiative to felicitate riders and their pillions for wearing helmets while travelling. The officials are handing out certificates in an attempt to encourage more people to wear helmets.

The initiative was started on April 10 and it will be continued for 15 days, officials told The Indian Express.

So far, 500 riders and their pillions have been felicitated. They were given a certificate of appreciation by the traffic police.

A traffic police personnel explained how the initiative works. “As soon as we spot a rider and their pillion rider wearing helmets, we ask them to stop and check whether there is any e-challan issued against their bike. If there is not a single e-challan issued on the bike, then we felicitate them and also hand over a letter of appreciation,” he was quoted as saying.

The officials added that they had 500 certificates (250 in English and 250 in Marathi) at the beginning of the drive. All of the certificates were distributed to law-abiding riders.

Joint Commissioner of Police Pravin Padwal (traffic) mentioned that it is compulsory for a pillion rider to wear a helmet and the initiative was started to create positive awareness about the rule.

Earlier this month, a photo of two women cops riding a two-wheeler without helmets in Mumbai went viral with several users pointing out the traffic rule violation.

The incident sparked the debate that the laws are only meant for the public and not for the authorities.

The picture was shared on Twitter by a user who tagged the Mumbai Traffic Police while questioning how they would react if common people start riding a bike without a helmet.

 

The official account of the Mumbai traffic police has responded to the post and asked about “the exact location” of the picture to take appropriate action against the people seen in the photo.

The Mumbai police wrote, “Please provide the exact location for necessary action,” to which the user replied that the incident was captured on the “Eastern Express Highway (Dadar)”

The Mumbai Traffic Police then informed that the matter had been communicated to the authorities.

Shortly after, they shared a picture of the challan issued against the two policewomen for riding a two-wheeler without helmets. It further mentioned that Rs 500 was collected from each as a fine.