In a bid to curb the increasing fatalities in road accidents, especially in case of two-wheelers, the State Government on Thursday decided to make helmet wearing compulsory for the pillion-riders.
The new regulation was announced by Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the State Secretariat through videoconferencing with all district administrations.
It was decided that helmets for pillion riders would be enforced forthwith to reduce the fatality rate in two-wheeler accidents. The Chief Secretary also advised the Home Department to delegate powers to all police stations for enforcing the provisions under the Motor Vehicle Act.
Padhi directed the Collectors and the SPs to intensify enforcement activities on the National and State Highways without causing unnecessary harassment to the people. He also directed to undertake wide awareness drives for curbing the fatality rate in accidents.
Implementation of a Good Samaritan policy in its spirit was also highlighted by the Chief Secretary.
He too directed to hold the district-level road safety committee meetings each month with definite enforcement targets. The districts were also asked to observe one Zero Tolerance Day every week.
Available data showed that during 2016, a total number of 10,532 accidents took place in the State causing death and injuries to 4,435 and 11,312 persons, respectively.
Transport Commissioner Madhusudan Padhi appraised that as per the statistics, around 57 per cent of accidents occurred in rural areas and 43 per cent in urban areas. In 44 per cent of the cases, two-wheelers were found responsible for causing the accidents followed by 20 per cent caused by the small passenger-carrying vehicles, 23 per cent by trucks and five per cent by buses. In 96 per cent of the cases, the drivers were found at fault.
Among others, Home Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy, DGP KB Singh and Commerce and Transport Secretary Sanjaya Rastogi were present.