Hyderabad: Over 50 per cent fatal road mishaps involve bikers

Hyderabad: Of the 363 fatal road accidents reported in Cyberabad Police Commissionerate this year until May, nearly 58 per cent of those who lost lives were either two-wheeler drivers or pillion- riders. As per the data available, of the 211 persons killed in various two-wheeler accidents between January and May, 172 were drivers and 39 […]

Hyderabad: Of the 363 fatal road accidents reported in Cyberabad Police Commissionerate this year until May, nearly 58 per cent of those who lost lives were either two-wheeler drivers or pillion- riders.

As per the data available, of the 211 persons killed in various two-wheeler accidents between January and May, 172 were drivers and 39 pillion-riders. And 191 of the victims were without helmets, officials noted. In a few cases, those with helmets had died, but with other internal injuries.

According to the officials, in 20 instances, the victims had worn helmets, but unfortunately died on the spot or succumbed to injuries late in the hospital. Some were fatally injured as they did not wear the headgears properly or wore a substandard or duplicate helmet.

Expressing concern over motorists not adhering to the helmet rule even after repeated warnings, senior police officials said at least 58 per cent of the fatalities in accidents during recent times were of two-wheeler riders, and most of them not wearing helmets.

An increasing number of deaths of two-wheeler riders, who were not wearing proper headgear, have been a matter of concern to the Cyberabad Traffic Police which prompted them to intensify the implementation of helmet rule. They have already started penalising those who try to escape penalties by wearing hard hats and half helmets.

“We can say more than half of the fatal road mishaps being reported in the commissionerate have two-wheeler drivers and pillion riders as victims. In most of those cases, they were not wearing helmets,” said T Srinivasa Rao, DCP (Traffic), Cyberabad. The chances of a rider dying in a road crash would be greatly reduced if proper and standard helmet is used, he said.

Apart from urging motorists to compulsorily wear a good quality helmet while riding or pillion riding on a motorcycle, he said, “It is advised to fasten the helmet straps properly. Otherwise, merely keeping a helmet on the head will not save riders from head injuries which may sometimes lead to death.” Citizens were advised to adhere to traffic rules.