Safety rules for child pillion riders

A new set of safety rules for child pillion riding and carried on motorcycles issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is a timely move to save children from road fatalities. Widespread awareness will make people volunteer to strictly follow the safety rules instead of waiting for enforcement. The new rules make it mandatory for the driver of a motorcycle to ensure that child pillion passengers aged between nine months and four years must wear his or her crash helmet which fits his or their head or wear a bicycle helmet complying with prescribed safety specifications. Ensuring that helmets used by motorcycle drivers as well as child pillion passengers are of prescribed specifications will be critical to new rules being effective in achieving the desired objectives. While carrying a child below four years, the driver of a motorcycle shall also ensure the child wears an adjustable safety harness securely attaching the child to the driver. The rules also set the maximum speed of the motorcycle with the child up to age four years being carried as a pillion at 40 kmph. MoRTH data show that two-wheelers account for 35% of total road accident deaths on National Highways falling under the National Highway Authority of India, followed by four-wheelers (18.6%) and pedestrians (14%), Trucks (10.7%), buses (4.9%), and bicycles account for 2.9%. National highways under Public Works Department account for 31.8% of deaths involving two-wheelers while the percentage for National Highways under other departments is 23.9. In 2019, India reported 4,49,000 road accidents which claimed 1,51,113 lives and caused injuries to 4,51,361 persons. About 30% of deaths are attributed to the non-use of helmets. An increase in percentage change in the number of children killed in the country from 6.05 in 2018 to 11.94 in 2019 speak volumes about the worrying situation of roads becoming more unsafe for children. Of the total 44,666 people who died in 2019 on account of not wearing helmets, 30,148 were drivers and 14,518 were passengers, according to Road Accidents in India-2019, the annual report on road accidents in the country published by the MoRTH. Assam accounted for 8,000 accidents of the about 10,000 accidents reported from the northeast region in the year which calculates to about 80%. Of these, over 3,000 were fatal and over 4,000 caused grievous injuries. The rising number of road accidents has not gotten adequate attention from the general public and violators of traffic safety rules give many excuses for not wearing the helmet or seatbelts even after authorities make efforts to enforce the safety norms to make road travel safer. Of late, however, strict enforcement of wearing of crash helmets by the Assam government by both drivers and pillion riders has brought about a change. Instances of removal of the helmets in interior arterial roads and by-lanes not covered by traffic police or excluded from surprise checks by the staff of Enforcement Wing of the Transport Department are still common in Guwahati city as many people do not realize the importance of wearing a helmet until they meet with an accident or someone in the family dies in fatal road mishaps. Following enforcement, most school-going children pillion riding on motorcycles are also seen wearing crash helmets. However, scenes of children below four to five years still being carried without a safety harness and either in front of the motorcycle driver or in between the driver and an adult pillion rider with the child struggling to hold the shirts or jackets worn by the driver as the motorcycle tries to race ahead of others send shivers down the spine of onlookers. In the past few weeks, Assam reported several incidents of children pillion riding on motorcycles dying in fatal road mishaps or suffering grievously injured. The new rules, if followed strictly, will prevent such fatalities or critical injuries but a lot will depend on the level of awareness among the general public. An aggressive and sustained awareness drive using all channels of traditional and digital media can go a long way in making people aware of the new safety rules notified by the MoRTH. Authorities having compelled to enforce the road safety rules through the imposition of fines also indicate the gaps in awareness drives in reaching out to the targeted audience and making them understand the importance of following the rules. Innovative approaches are required to be evolved through stakeholder consultations. Salespersons of showrooms of two-wheelers, paediatricians, ASHA, Anganwadi workers and others who can reach out to parents and relatives of children below four years can play a crucial role in building the required awareness on these new rules. If the drivers and adult pillion riders of motorcycles do not realize the risk of riding without safety, children riding with them will always be at risk. The adage prevention is always better than cure must remain the key slogan.