Hyderabad: Women pillion riders more prone to accidents

Hyderabad: Whenever there is an accident involving a two wheeler, in most of the cases, the pillion rider has been the victim.

“According to the vehicle dynamics, we consider a two wheeler as an unbalanced vehicle unlike a car which is a balanced vehicle. The risk factor of the pillion rider is more in these type of accidents,”  Dheerendra Samineni, road safety expert said.

“We have to not only balance ourselves but also the two-wheeler. Mostly women sit facing sidewards and it is difficult for the rider to balance. 

“Especially during turning, jerks, rapid acceleration and rapid deceleration, the woman pillion rider who is sitting facing sideways is more vulnerable and more likely to fall down.”

Almost 70-80 per cent risk of the pillion riders are women. 

Women are more likely to suffer because there are more chances of sari or scarf getting accidentally caught in  the wheel, especially during the turning when the centrifugal force acts inwards, with more chance of head injury. 

In these two-wheeler accidents, upper part of the body is the most affected. This means the head, spinal cord and neck are the most vulnerable. Commissioner of city police, Mr Anjani Kumar while addressing a recent traffic awareness programme stressed the need for traffic awareness amongst women because in many accidents women are the victims for no fault of theirs. 

He said, “Specifically in the road accidents involving two-wheelers, the women are the victims as they are riding pillion and when the vehicle on which they are travelling suddenly stops or collides with another vehicle, they slip down and are run over by the vehicle coming from the other direction.”