India
If you are not killed by a natural calamity, then chances of a major road accident are very high ending up taking your life, simply because you are not wearing a helmet.
Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister Dr. G Parameshwara's recent tweet which claims multitudes of accidents due to the absence of helmets, in the city of Bengaluru, has just given life to the aforementioned statement. The statistics tweeted by the Congress minister are alarming.
Here's the tweet:
Helmets are mandatory. Two wheeler riders or pillion, your lives are equally important. As responsible citizens, I urge you all to please wear helmets. Safety first! pic.twitter.com/PszwGbzHqz
— Dr. G Parameshwara (@DrParameshwara)A lot has already been said about the role of helmets in saving a person from a painful death, still many fail to understand the significance of it.
According to the latest data shared by the Bengaluru's Additional Commissioner, Traffic, Hithendra, as many as 50 lakh challans have been issued against traffic offenders this year so far, majorly for missing out on helmets.
"Up to 700 road accidents have been reported in Bengaluru in 2018 until now, out of which 60% - 420, are of two-wheelers," the officer said.
However the stats shared by the Deputy CM of the state point to the alarming number of deaths among the accidents reported, but the focal point remains undisputed - the usage of helmets.
If we take a look at the stats from the last two years, at least 10 people die every hour due to road accidents across Karnataka, as per the data released by Transport Research Wing, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Another shocking revelation in the data was that the number of accidents registered in the state has been the third highest in the country after Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.
The roads of Tamil Nadu witnessed as many as 71,431 accidents, Madhya Pradesh recorded 53,972 accidents in 2016 whereas Karnataka contributed 11 per cent to the total tally of the nation with 44,403 accidents. As per the report, in 2016, around 10,135 deaths have been caused by the non-wearing of helmets.
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