Drive against riders not wearing helmets: Nashik Police seizes vehicles till offenders undergo 2-hr counselling

Pandey had last month issued a directive that only people wearing helmets could purchase fuel from petrol pumps. Police have been deployed at all petrol pumps to ensure that the rule is followed.

But amid reports that people put on their helmets only at petrol pumps, the Nashik Police decided to increase the ambit of its drive and began the counseling initiative last week. As per this initiative, the impounded vehicles of offenders are only released when they produce a certificate of having attended the counselling session.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Sitaram Gaikwad (Traffic) said, “Many accidents have taken place in the past and riders have lost their lives because they were not wearing helmets.”

According to the statistics provided by the Nashik Police, between January 2017 and June 2021, 782 accidents have taken place in which 825 people lost their lives. Of the total deaths, 467 victims were bike-borne persons of which 394 bikers were riding without headgear.

The counselling sessions are being conducted in two batches i.e. from 11 am to 1 pm and 3 pm to 5 pm. A batch of 40 drivers will attend a session at a time.

“We have four units in Nashik city, so accordingly we assign nakabandis at regular intervals, catch offenders and send them to the training school of a private firm named Traffic First. We have tied up with them to provide counselling sessions on road safety to these helmet-less riders for free,” said Gaikwad, adding, “We keep changing our nakabandi points.”

So far, 350 offenders have undetaken counselling sessions.