No petrol for motorcyclists without helmets in Karachi

KARACHI: Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Traffic Police, Javed Mehar, on Monday said no motorcyclist without helmet would be able to get petrol in the city, ARY News reported.

The senior traffic cop has written a letter to commissioner Karachi in this regard. He said all petrol stations would be required to display the notification.

He said the rule would be implemented in letter and spirit. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has also issued a notification in this connection.

According to traffic police, action will be taken against owners of petrol stations who were found violating the rule. Commissioner Karachi will issue a final notification.

A similar rule was enforced in Rawalpindi a few weeks ago following the Lahore High Court orders. The Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rawalpindi Dr Umar Jahangir had issued directions to all petrol stations not to supply petrol to motorcyclists without helmet.

“Any motorcyclist not wearing a helmet will not be refuelled at any fuel station in Rawalpindi after December 1, 2018. Directions have been issued to all fuel stations,” the deputy commissioner wrote on Twitter.

Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had also hailed the initiative. “Brilliant idea, in Lahore implementation of the helmet law, led to a 63 per cent reduction in head injuries, this idea is even better,” Chaudhry wrote back on Twitter.

The City Traffic Police (CTP) on the directive of Lahore High Court had launched a campaign to make helmets compulsory for motorbike riders.

Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi of the Lahore High Court had directed chief traffic police and police high ups to take departmental action against cops and traffic wardens if they were found riding motorbikes without wearing helmet as well as the side mirrors. “No one is above the law, a judge of LHC had been ticketed through e-ticket system, adding if judges were paying the fine so why not others”, Justice Qureshi remarked.