A few days ago I was going on my two-wheeler on Kalidasa road and all of a sudden, the helmet flew off from the head of the rider in front of me and almost hit me. If it had hit me, I would have, in all probability, lost control of my vehicle and crashed.
It was obvious that the rider in front of me had not strapped his helmet on and was just keeping it on his head to fool the police. I have noticed that a lot of two-wheeler riders adopt this practice. But the wearing of helmets without strapping them on is as good as useless and will do nothing to prevent head injuries in case of accidents. In fact, by flying off at inopportune times, unstrapped helmets can hit insuspecting bystanders or other riders (like me!) and cause more damage.
I checked the law to see what it says about helmets. According to Sec 230(1) of the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, “every person while driving a motorcycle of any type that is to say motor-cycles, scooters and mopeds irrespective of the break horse power of the vehicle. shall wear protective headgear of such quality as will reduce head injuries to riders of two-wheelers resulting from head impacts”. Since the section does not explicitly state that the helmet has to be strapped on, it may not be possible now to fine two-wheeler riders for not strapping the helmet on. Since the purpose of the law is to prevent head injuries and since an unstrapped helmet does not prevent head injuries, the law should be amended and the riders fined if their helmets are not strapped on.
Dwarkanath Narayan