Two-wheelers account for majority of accidents in Raigad district

With bike accidents constituting more than 50 per cent of the total vehicular accidents recorded in Raigad district last year, police have started a campaign for bikers riding triple seat or riding without helmet in the district.

In the first week of the campaign, the Raigad Police have registered cases against 2,200 bikers. The campaign also aims at encouraging both the rider and pillion to wear helmets.

In 2019, 991 road crashes were reported in Raigad, killing 221 persons while 613 sustained grievous injuries, as per the Maharashtra highway traffic police.

Among the crashes reported, bikers alone accounted for 50 per cent of the vehicles involved followed by 21 per cent of light motor vehicles like cars, taxis and vans.

Another highlight of the study conducted by the highway traffic police showed that out of all the bikers involved in such crashes, not wearing helmets while riding resulted in 19 per cent of the deaths and 43 per cent of the bikers were grievously injured.

Ashok Dudhe, Raigad police superintendent, said, “Since Raigad district is a rural area, many people are either uneducated or unaware about road safety. We noticed that bikers are nonchalant with the use of helmets. So, our first step to curb this was to appeal to the citizens to follow the traffic rules and learn the importance of helmets. This will be followed by implementation of the rules.”

The Raigad district has four important major routes including the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Mumbai-Goa Highway, Pali-Khopoli Road and Alibag-Pen Road. Several spots along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Mumbai-Goa Highway are accident-prone.

With road construction work going on at several stretches along the highways including Pali-Khopoli Road, police said they are urging motorists to be extra cautious on roads and culverts, especially bikers, who are more at risk.

Police have set up check posts at 28 locations across the district to catch violators. While the traffic department of the Raigad police has only close to 100 personnel, the department is conducting checks with the help of local police stations when required.

Wear helmets, ride safely (SUBHEAD)

Within a week of launching the road safety campaign, the traffic branch of the Raigad police registered over 2,200 cases against bikers riding without helmets and those riding triple seats in the district.

Suresh Yamgar, spokesperson for Raigad district police said the campaign was needed after it was noticed an increase in bikers riding without helmets.

“Families have lost their loved ones in tragic crashes. We hope the campaign will instil a sense of civic awareness among the bikers and help reduce fatal crashes,” said Yamgar.

Welcoming the campaign, Ranjit Gadgil, programme director at Parisar, an organisation that has worked for the cause of road safety in Maharashtra, called it a very important step in the right direction.

“Looking at the data, the importance of wearing helmets cannot be ignored. After the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act increased the fine for helmetless driving, bikers will get into the habit of wearing safety gear. For the pillion riders, especially women and elders, there is extreme reluctance on their part when asked to wear a helmet. In the light of a crash, while the rider may be alerted, the pillion rider is most often taken by surprise and becomes a victim,” added Gadgil.

Police claimed that there have been some results in just about a week and those riding triples have considerably reduced. Police said they will eventually carry out sustained campaigns for other offences like honking, speeding, etc.

“While we are on a war footing to take this campaign forward, our aim remains only to get people to grow serious about how important it is to follow road safety rules for their own well-being. Our aim is not only to show a record number of cases but each interaction with a violator is such that they do not repeat the offence,” said Ravindra Shinde, inspector (traffic), Raigad police.

Officials said they were conducting more checks and issuing challans since the start of the year, more so during the lockdown period.

Last year, till September, the Raigad police had collected ₹1.46 Cr from 57,825 offences. This year, the police collected ₹3.5 Cr from 1.41 lakh offences.