Youth Voices: Do We Wear Helmets and Seat Belts Only To Avoid Challan?

Do we wear helmets and seat belts only to avoid challans? Indian civic culture is not as strict as the culture in the western countries, and neither do we adopt it as fast as we adopt their social culture. We are imparted with the culture of abiding by the law with subdue force. This is why when somebody behaves like a responsible citizen and tries to be civilized, he/she feels uncomfortable seeing the errant and undisciplined road users.

This was a general observation but it is important for us to know what the youth of our country thinks? Our correspondent Moumita Pramanik took the opinion of a few of the members of this youth brigade of our country. Many had explanations for the questions above.

Abir Bose a student from Kolkatta, said, ”Most of us do it to avoid challan, only a handful of women drivers and elderly men wear them for safety”.

Another youngster Aparna Sengupta feels that, “Sometimes we wear it for safety, but most of the time we do it to avoid police harassment”.

Akash Goyel says, “As a two wheeler rider I wear it for my safety but most of the riders find lame excuses to avoid it”.

As Rajdeep Mukherjee explains this “If avoiding of challan is one of the reasons, then the reason for not wearing it could be style. After enjoying movies like dhoom, the youth might think that it’s possible to impress their ‘sweethearts’ by showing. But I think the increasing road accidents and the instant deaths some other reasons as to why one must use these things. So for enjoying a long life with speed we need to use helmets and seat belts”.

“Most of the times, people use these safety bands to avoid challan and it’s very unfortunate. Bribing the traffic constable is the easiest way to escape but that does guarantee a long life.” comments Satabdi Mitra.

Rightly, you can bribe a cop, but you cannot bribe life.

Pulloma Mitra brings forward a very important observation about the human psychology, “When a necessity becomes a rule then it seems like a burden. This line is perfectly applicable in relation with using seat belts and helmets at the time of driving. Sometimes people think that they have to do it not for them, but to avoid the unwanted fiasco created by traffic rules and they start to neglect it without thinking about their life which is the main cause of frequent road accidents and deaths. We must realize that all rules are not burden but often a blessing too. So use helmets and seat belts and enjoy your journey”.

These were the opinions of a few youngsters who very strongly feel that safety is priority.

Mentioned below are some facts that we all should know:

80 percent of two wheeler riders either suffer head injury or die due to negligence.

Road traffic injuries are categorized among 5 leading causes of death.

Every year about 12 lakh people die in road accident all over the world.

In India about 80,000 people die on roadside 1 person dies every 6 minutes.

So now it is high time that we realize that every year thousands of people lose their loved ones. So all of us should consider these laws to be our life savers rather than taking them as burdens.

So do you wear seat belt and helmets to avoid challan? Drop a comment below or mail us at info@youthkiawaaz.com, you can also tweet us at @YouthKiAwaaz.

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Supporters: SaveLife Foundation