Udupi: Following the call of the district Superintendent of Police K Annamalai, a campaign to create awareness on using helmets by college students was successfully started across the district from October 1.
More than 200 students of Milagres College Kallianpur under the leadership of Dr Neri Cornelio, principal of the college, took out a mega bike rally from Kallianpur to Udupi. Fr Stany B Lobo, Correspondent of Milagres Institutions, flagged off the rally in the college premises. The rally passed through Santhekatte, Ambagilu, Gundibail, Kalsanka, City Bus-stand, Service Bus-Stand Daina Circle, Jodukatte, Brahmagiri Circle and culminated at the SP Office.
President of Udupi City Municipal Council Yuvraj and principal of Sneha Toutrial College Umesh Naik also addressed the gathering in front of the Clock Tower. The campaigners carried placards, which appealed to two-wheeler riders to “ensure safe driving with helmets to prevent fatal accidents” and “ride bikes using helmets which will save lives”.
At the SP’s Office, Annamalai addressing the students said that Udupi district is the first district which is implementing compulsory wearing of helmets for college students without the government enforcement. “We have written a letter to the heads of schools and colleges seeking their cooperation. We have also visited a number of colleges in Udupi district personally and created awareness among students to wear helmets. We have planned to create awareness of wearing helmets in all colleges. This is being done to prevent road accidents, where especially students who are in their prime lose their lives.”
SP thanked all the college principals and students for taking the issue of wearing helmets seriously. “If the rider is wearing a helmet, then it can save the head and the person’s life. The police department did not enforce the compulsory helmet rule, but awareness about it is important. Most riders are youngsters aged between 18 and 35 years,” he added.
Additional SP Santhosh Kumar, DySP Chandrashekar, Ravikumar (PSI Malpe), Girish (PSI Udupi Town), Madhu TS (Traffic PSI Udupi), Janardhan Thonse (Chairman of Udupi Urban Development Authority), Chinmayamoorthy, Dr Jayaram Shettigar, Nithyanand Shetty, Merwin D’Souza and others were present.
While the efforts are certainly praiseworthy, there is an element of irony here. Such a campaign peloton in the middle of the busy road is bound to be equally dangerous (if not more) than the injury caused by not wearing the helmet which this movement is trying to address.