Traffic police on Thursday cracked its whip on the sale of spurious helmets that flooded the Fort City, following the drive initiated by SP Eswaran, making helmets compulsory for two-wheeler riders.
A team of police personnel led by traffic inspector Kannan seized around 100 helmets that were being sold on roadsides at various places. Cases have been booked against four persons who were selling the helmets under section 336 of IPC, (endangering life or personal safety of others).
Earlier, SP, Eswaran had set July 27 as the deadline for two-wheeler riders to use helmets, which was later extended to August 1. He had announced a spot fine of `100 for not wearing helmets and `300 for a repeated offence. As police implemented the law seriously, two-wheeler users went on a panic buying spree.
The situation was exploited by roadside vendors who started selling all kinds of helmets, including non-certified ones.
While there were only a few takers for quality helmets with ISI certification, spurious helmets flooded the district. Vendors, mostly from north India, had put up roadside stalls, selling spurious pieces costing between `400 and `700, while the cost of a good quality one ranged from `1,500 to 2,000.
Many two-wheeler users argued that since the police had not specified the quality of helmets that should be worn, they were purchasing cheaper ones to comply with the law. Express had highlighted the situation on Wednesday after which traffic police swung into action on Thursday.
It is yet to be seen whether two-wheeler riders would be allowed to wear non-ISI certified helmets.It also remains unknown whether the seized helmets would be sent to the Bureau of Indian Standards at Chennai for quality check to initiate legal action against the manufacturers.
Helmets were made mandatory for riders after statistics showed that 89 two-wheeler riders who were not wearing helmets, died in road mishaps in the district in the last three months.
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