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HELMET ISSUE: TRANSPORT MINISTER URGED TO NOTIFY TWO
EXEMPTIONS
Transport Minister Pandurang Madkaikar has been urged by Adv. Aires
Rodrigues to immediately notify the two exemptions to the helmet rule as
mooted by the former Transport Minister Pandurang Raut in consultation with
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Adv. Rodrigues has stated that the two exemptions to the helmet rule as
proposed in March 2001 was for persons driving motorcycles at a speed not
exceeding 40 km and persons driving motorcycles in municipal areas. Adv.
Rodrigues has further stated that he has prevailed on the Motorcycle Action
Group (MAG) to defer the agitation by two-wheeler riders scheduled to start
from tomorrow and to give Transport Minister Madkaikar an opportunity to
resolve this issue once for all.
Adv. Rodrigues has said that it should be left to the two wheeler riders to
decide for themselves whether to wear a helmet or not and that the
authorities should instead work in dealing with the causes of accidents by
making the roads safer inorder to save lives. Adv. Rodrigues wondered
whether the helmet issue was being raked time and again by certain police
and transport department officials for monetary
gains in connivance with the helmet manufacturer's lobby.
Adv. Rodrigues has further stated that the authorities are conveniently
magnifying the figures of two wheeler riders killed not wearing helmets but
have remained silent on those killed inspite of wearing helmets and the
hundreds of bicycle riders and pedestrians killed every year due to our
accident prone roads. Adv. Rodrigues has stated that the authorities should
fix the causes of accidents and not merely project a false theory that
lives would be saved by wearing helmets when no steps are being taken to
make the roads safer and that even our National Highways are infact city
roads passing through congested schools, houses and markets creating safety
hazards.
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