sunilg

Unfortunately, we are living in a part of the world where reading the news of someone dying in a road accident has become an everyday habit. Hardly anyone pays any attention to it. And the worst part about it is that the biggest victims of these road accidents are us, US, the two-wheeler riders. Open any newspaper on any given day and you’ll see a news or two about the road accidents involving a two-wheeler.

Now, whenever I read, see, or hear a news like this anywhere, the first question that comes to my mind is “was the rider wearing helmet?” Seriously, this is the only thing that comes to my mind when I hear or read that somebody died or was injured in a two-wheeler accident and I am sure this is the case with most of the people reading this. BUT the sad part is that, 99% of the time there is no answer to this basic question, “was the rider wearing helmet?”

Either our news correspondents do not know the importance of this information or they just choose to ignore it, don’t know what is the truth.
I’ve worked for the US healthcare industry for close to eight years and have seen hundred of emergency room reports involving the accidental cases and it was always amazing to see what importance these guys give to the piece of information like this. The paramedics never forgot to mention in their report whether the rider was wearing the helmet or not and whether the car driver had seatbelts or not and whether the air bags were deployed or not. And this information helps the doctor a lot; they could determine the kind of injuries the patient might have sustained even before actually seeing the patient.
So I was wondering if adding just this one line in the news about whether the accident victim was wearing the helmet or not during the time of the accident would prompt and encourage more people to wear helmet? I guess it will. Lets see an example of this,

“The motorcyclist died on the spot due to head injuries. He was not wearing the helmet. “

Remove the bold part from this news item and read it once again, was the impact same? I hope not. Don’t you think this would force more people to wear the helmet?

Now, thinking on these lines, is there anything we can do to change this? Can we force/urge the news agencies/news papers/channels in our country to add just this one line whenever they are reporting the news of a road accident involving two-wheeler.

Can we do it? I hope we can, but how?

Pour in your suggestions: you think an online petition would do? Or personally meeting the influential peoples would be a better idea? Should we start with just one big national level news paper and then move step by step? Or any other idea/feedback/suggestion that you might come up with.

I know this is not an easy task, but we’ll have to start somewhere. So lets start this now and hopefully together we will be able to make some difference.

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Lonely Rider

Great Initiative. I would like to mention about my crash which i had yesterday. I was saved just because of the safety gears (Armored jacket, gloves,Knee guards) which i was wearing. Had not been i was not wearing these safety gears, today i would definitely not be alive to write this crash report.

I am attaching the pics of the accident spot and the condition of my bullet. Just imagine what would be my condition without safety gears. I get shivering when i imagine the crash

Attached Thumbnails

         

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Mik

Very nice thought.
Though its hard not to be cynical about the lackadaisical attitude of these agencies themselves. In Noida(where most of the news channels are based) i have seen umpteen "PRESS" marked bikes and cars which openly flout even very basic regulations. Whenever a two wheeler rider dies, the mob mentality (bigger vehicle at fault) of these news papers/channels comes to the fore and they are prompt in blaming the "killer bluelines" or the "badey baap ke bigdael bachhe" on cars for these accidents. This is their daily masaala. Even mentioning a one liner like "He was not wearing a helmet/seatbelt" will be a tectonic shift for them. Though i do believe that this is certainly worth pursuing.
Some other suggestions. Might not be feasible though:
1. Maybe get the police to shift their pitch while pushing for helmets. An ad with statistics/graphics of non helmeted riders being squashed to death will be more effective than saying that "Please wear a helmet. Fine Rs xxx"
2. Schools can inculcate these good habits. A few years back, a gentleman had given training on defensive driving to us, the new joinees in a company. They had shown statistics, youtube vids and some very practical examples and tips (like driving with the lights on) to drive home the point. Can xBhp take this direction ?

kinshuk.arya

i met with an accident on 8th of November 2008.... my head and face was
saved because i was wearing a helmet wit visor otherwise the merchandise
would have screwed up badly.... but i had a broken bone in my right hand
which still clicks when moved that was because i was not wearing any
jackets at that time.... the bike took the grunt of the accident.... the leg guard was bend along with handle bar,
broken brake lever from the joints....


from then now i have been wearing a jacket and shoes.... now i have a
proper riding jacket and gloves.... have also influenced or rather coerced
some of my friends to wear a helmet at the least

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dhairya

Good thought Sunil.

I will say one thing -News agency write what sells. Excpet for a few high profile cases where they have acted in positive manner, more often than not they just create masala. They always leave out the part which would change the course of the story or would make it more real.

We had lost an Xbhpian on NH8 - Siddharth on his Busa. The article just blamed the rider and did not mention that the truck was coming in wrong direction. I sent an email to the writer of the columns but no response came from them.

My fiancee's cousin is a part time RJ. He is based in Chandigarh. He told me that once that radio channel went to Sukhna lake and forced a guy to fight with them over the right of littering while he was not literring. This is a small Radio channel in a non-metro city. Imagine what national channels must be doing. They just want to show only one side of the story.

As for Press cars flouting traffic rules, the only reason they want press stickers is because they want to flout rules.

sherry_unicornlover

Very valid issue raised Sunil
But expecting anything from the so called Indian media is waste. The only thing they are concerned is how they can make a simple news look like the biggest news of the day. With hundreds of news channels, the quality of news has gone done the drain.
I would suggest, rather then looking up for them to start the change, we have to do this on our own.
Look what xBhp has done to the bike enthusiatics of India.
Hence, Start a wave from our home itself. we have our own magazine now and 'm sure it must be reaching some hands in the prominent positions.
Start this in the Magazine, on our site, Facebook and twitter.
Slowly people will automatically start changing.
Or we can file a petition or something with digital signatures of all the member and submit this to the government and let them know that the information should be included in the respective manner as suggested by sunil.

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VD17

Quite a thought provoking topic.

From my experience, I would say Sherry was bang on the spot when he said "The only thing they are concerned is how they can make a simple news look like the biggest news of the day." Given the load of information, the media has developed a shocking complacency for things based on a yardstick of relative awe-factor. For example, if 2 die in a drunken driving case in Mumbai, it makes it to Page 2. But if 3 die riding a bike on a highway near some small town, its probably just a box story further down the newspaper.

Now here is an insight which might actually help us in doing something. Most of the stories on the road deaths are actually by press agencies like PTI, IANS etc. Given the agencies' vast network, newspapers run direct copies from them instead of sending in a reporter to do a follow-up of their own, which is what happens normally in more 'important' news. Now general news reporting style follows something called an 'Inverted pyramid' in which the most important elements are in the beginning of the report, following a progression to end in the least important being last. This enables newspaper editors to chop off paragraphs in the end to fit it into word limits without worrying about important bits being missed out.

What we can do is that we can write to the Editors and Directors of such agencies with an appeal to put the road safety element higher up the reports. I don't know how much that will work. The appeal needs to be sustained and strong and directed at the right people, I guess.

It is almost a daily dose of unfortunate realization that most of us journalists have an appalling sense of importance. Even reporters who do cover these stories are more likely to focus on the mishap alone instead of focussing on what led to the mishap.

rockrider

When I read a new like this that says '...dead due to head injuries..' I take it that the helment was not worn. Multiple fracture on the face implies chin was not gaurded or the rided did not hook the helmet correctly. What beats me is when they say death due to intenal bleeding.

What ever was the cause of fatality, it is important to report whether helmet was worn or not. It may not be noticed in one reading but over multiple readings it will definitely go into any thick skulled head. If the number of words is a constraint, then they should use 'helmetless' as the adjective. "... the helmetless rider was pronounced dead on arrival' rather than saying ' the rider was pronounced dead on arrival, he was not wearing a helment'.

the constraint is not the number of words but lack of understanding about the importance of such report or general indifference. Or it could be possible that the reporter him/her self does not have the habit of wearing the helmet and is just being true to him/herself.

silverblackvoid

this is one of the most important and thoughtful posts that i've ever read.

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jawad_emt

its was just yesterday i thought of documenting my experience about importance of helmet, AND the thread is here.....

A year ago i fell off the bike at 70 kmph (NH 7) as a road crossing dog came under the front wheel. i was wearing a helmet and a winter jacket.
i landed on my head and shoulder and went screeching the road for almost 20 to 30 ft.
i should tell that i escaped with very few injuries which required simple first-aid at hospital.

i can still recall my head landing on road with a heavy bang which my helmet took totally.
if the helmet and jacket were not there, i would have been dead or landed in neuro ICU for brain injury and be there for may be couple of months.
+
the other limb and torso injuries.

WEAR A HELMET
other benefits of helmet

• eyes and face protected from wind and dust (you reach the destination with same glam!)
• Loud noise is muffled (peace of mind)
• Winter or Summer the temperature in helmet is always favorable (no tanning or winter cracks)
• believe me you dont get into arguments and abusing on road, you just ignore the offender because if you shout you heart your own ears.
• And you become son-in-law (damad) of cops, they rarely bother you.

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