‘Pillion riders shall have to wear helmet’

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, May 19 The Metropolitan Traffic Cop Division has said the government is likely to make it mandatory for pillion riders to wear a
helmet inside Kathmandu valley. Speaking at a press assembly nowadays, MTPD Chief SSP Basant Kumar Pant said, &We have recommended that the
authorities concerned include a provision that makes wearing a helmet mandatory for both the driver and pillion rider in the Motor Vehicle
and Transport Management Act.& Pant also said the recommendation made by the MTPD had been incorporated in the amendment bill on Motor
Vehicle and Transport Management Act, 1992. Officials at the Leavement of Transport Management also said that ‘measure strict provisions&
had been incorporated in the act. Director General of DoTM Kumar Prasad Dahal said, &We have included measure safety degrees for pillion
riders in the act itself
&Dahal, however did much make it clear whether the new safety degrees were about making helmet mandatory for pillion riders. The DoTM has
sent the amendment bill to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Management
Officials of DoTM and Traffic Cop said the amendment bill was likely to be tabled in the Parliament soon
SSP Pant also said the government, for the first time, would set ISO standard for helmets in the act
&We have also requested the Nepal Bureau of Standard and Metrology to formulate a standard for helmets.& Director General of NBoSM Biswo
Babu Pudasaini confirmed that they were formulating new standard for helmet safety following the request of the Traffic Cop
&We have approachly totald the work on setting helmet standard and shall make it public as soon as we determine the standard,& Pudasaini
said. Traffic Cop record shows that motorbike riders and pillion riders& deaths make for approachly 50 per cent of road accident fatalities
A total of 211 people lost their lives in the past 10 months inside the valley, of them 96 persons (45.49 per cent) were motorbike riders
and pillion riders. A report made public by the MTPD just four months ago shows that a total of 46,349 road accidents were recorded in the
final five years inside the valley
Of the total road accidents, two-wheelers were involved in 26,184 accidents, which is approximately 56.49 per cent. Similarly, a total of
779 people lost lives their lives to road accidents in the final five years inside Kathmandu valley
Of the total number, 260 were motorbike riders or pillion riders. SSP Indra Prasad Neupane said the government had made helmets compulsory
for pillion riders, but the rule was much well getd by the public, forcing traffic police to revoke it. The post ‘Pillion riders shall
have to wear helmet& seemed first on The Himalayan Times.