Mumbai In a move to promote safety, pillion riders on two-wheelers will be penalised for not wearing helmets from June 9 onwards.
The Mumbai traffic police issued a warning on Wednesday and said that they will start penalising pillion riders after 15 days. “We observed that a substantial number of pillion riders do not wear helmets. We have given such citizens 15 days,” said Raj Tilak Roushan, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic HQ).
Usually, a helmetless rider has to pay a fine of ₹500. Sometimes, the traffic police may even forward the licence of the violator for suspension for three months. Recently, in a new move, 6,309 violators were called to the nearest traffic police chowkie to compulsorily watch educational videos which talk about the ill-effects of helmetless riding.
From June 9, the traffic police will impose a fine of ₹500 on the pillion rider and the offence will be punishable under sections 129 and 194 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
Between March 6 and May 22, the traffic police penalised 1,86,142 two-wheeler riders for riding without helmets and sent 10,077 requests to the Regional Transport Office (RTO) for suspending licence.
Roushan said that on an average, they are penalising about 1,200 two-wheelers daily. He said that now they are writing to schools and colleges to create awareness and to encourage kids to follow traffic rules.