KATHMANDU, Jan. 1: Traffic police were extra vigilant today on the motorcyclists – stopping two-wheelers on which the pillion riders were not wearing the safety helmets as demanded by the new regulation. They were either cautioned with their registration number noted down or were asked to get down.

Many passengers on two-wheelers, even women and children, were seen wearing the helmets, many of them gleaming ones. Traffic police said about 90 per cent of the back riders wore helmets today as demanded by the newly imposed regulation of the Vehicular and Transport Management Act 2049. 
In a bid to prevent casualties, the Valley Traffic Police Office (VTPO) and the Department of Transport Management have made it mandatory for all pillion riders to wear helmets from today.

“While checking, we found that only about 10 per cent of the pillion riders were not wearing helmets,” said a senior official of the VTPO. “We have warned them and noted down the motorcycle numbers.”
Although an act was enacted 10 years ago making helmets compulsory for riders, only those in the front have been wearing them.

Most of the accidents which take place in the valley involve motorcycles. In the event of an accident, 80 per cent of the front riders and nearly cent per cent of those riding behind are affected. 
According to the act, any motorcycle rider not wearing a helmet can be fined anywhere between Rs. 200 to 1000.

Pillion riders without helmets were asked to get down by the police. But after walking some distance, they were again back on the hind seat, said the traffic police. A report published by the Bir Hospital Emergency Ward shows that nearly all motorcycles accidents result in head injury of the pillion rider, which in most cases is of a serious nature.  An estimated 155,000 motorcycles are registered in the capital, and 79 new two wheelers are added each day, according to the VTPO.

The new regulation that makes helmets compulsory for pillion riders was effectively enforced in Biratnagar in east Nepal recently.