4 students ride to death without helmets
The awareness campaigns on helmets didn’t sway these youth to wear protective gear
Update: 2015-07-01 07:35 GMT
Coimbatore: Four college students rode to their death without wearing the protective helmets on Monday night just a day before helmets become mandatory for two-wheeler riders in Tamil Nadu from Wednesday.
A joy ride back home after watching a movie ended in an avoidable tragedy for three engineering college students who were travelling on a single bike. The three youth, Harishwaran from Salem, Tharun Kishore from Tirunelveli and Syed Muhammed from Chennai, all aged 19, were returning to their room in Peelamedu on a single two-wheeler after watching a movie in a theatre in Race Course.
As they neared the Lakshmi Mills’s junction on Avinashi road on Monday night, a speeding government bus knocked them down. Despite the hi-decibel awareness campaigns on helmets, none were wearing the protective head gear. And Harishwaran who riding the bike and Tharun Kishore paid with their lives. Syed Muhammed suffered serious injuries and has been admitted to a private hospital.
The bodies of the two deceased youth have been sent for post-mortem at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH). The traffic investigation wing (TIW) police have arrested the bus driver Palanisamy from Sulur. In another helmetless tragedy, S. Vijay Santhosh, 17 from Koundampalayam, who was studying first year B.com in a private college on Sakthi road was riding a two-wheeler with his friend Janakiraman on the pillion, he lost control and rammed into a roadside tree on Idayarpalayam road. While Vijay Santhosh died on the spot, his friend is undergoing treatment at CMCH.
In the third accident T. Karthick from Velandipalayam, who was studying second year B.com in a private college in Kuniamuthur, was riding a two-wheeler with his friend Babu, when they collided head on with a van on Thadagam Road.
Police said Karthick died without responding to treatment at CMCH, while the other person is under treatment. In this case too, the victim was without a helmet. The Thudiyalur police have arrested van driver Muhammed Mustafa.
Students come together for awareness:
Hundreds of students and teachers of the Kumaragru College of Technology created logo formation with a slogan ‘Helmet Saves Lives’ at college campus. The students also organised a bike rally wearing helmet from the college campus and proceeded the through Chinavdeampatti, Athipalayam Pirivu and concluded at the college campus. Around 25 members joined the rally carrying slogans ‘Use Helmet, Helmet Saves Lives, Wear Helmet,’ Helmet is very important thing not for the two-wheeler riders.
It is a life insurance which saves life and prevent our head from any kind of head injury, said R.S. Kumar, the principal of the college. Students were encouraged to wear helmets and keep them safe while riding their bike.
Call for helmet awareness in villages:
The Nilgiris Tea Cultivators Federation (NTCF) demanded that the regional transport officers (RTOs) send letters to those two-wheelers registered with RTO offices, signifying the high court orders that made wearing of helmets mandatory in two-wheelers, carry out a campaign on helmet-wearing to even villages and remote hamlets as the high court order on wearing helmets comes to force from Wednesday. It also pleaded the seizure of two wheelers driven by those below the age of 18 years.
Mr Manjai V.Mohan, president of the NTCF said in a memorandum sent to the state home secretary that though the awareness campaigns on wearing helmets by two wheeler riders and pillion riders were
organized well in urban limits, it was yet to make an expected mark in the village and remote hamlets. “Two-wheelers have become a part and parcel of rural life and many milk-vendors, small time merchants and farmers regularly use two-wheelers to commute between nearby villages, fields and nearby towns. In fact, the use of two-wheelers is more in rural belts than in towns.”
If the RTOs send letters to two-wheeler owners registered at RTO offices to comply with high court orders, this would not only make them aware of the significance of wearing helmets, but also stop later responses that they did not know about the new orders. A letter campaign would bring about a lot of awareness especially in rural limits, he noted.
Action should also be taken to seize two-wheelers driven by students below the age of 18 years and cancel the driving licenses of the owners of these two-wheelers. This will help parents to stop their children from taking to two-wheelers at a tender age, he suggested.