GB Nagar: 1.7 million riders fined in 2024 for not wearing helmets

Unsafe driving

- Arun Singh

NOIDA: Gautam Budh Nagar reported a steep rise in helmet violations in 2024, with around 1.7 million fines being issued to riders for riding two-wheelers without helmets.

This is a rise of nearly 69% from 2023 when 1,007,656 fines were issued for riding without helmets in the district, and a whopping 616% from 2022, when 238,225 such violations were reported, the data provided by Noida traffic police revealed, pointing to a need for more stringent enforcement.

It is in this context that the transport department had recently announced a "no helmet, no petrol" policy, which is set to come into effect on January 26 in Gautam Budh Nagar. The initiative has been backed by the district administration and instructions have been issued to petrol pump owners to put up banners and not provide petrol to anyone reaching there without wearing a helmet.

However, experts believe that the "no helmet, no petrol" drive is just a way to shift responsibility from enforcement authorities to petrol pumps, which eventually leads to chaos and disturbance at pumps.