An elderly man riding a scooter with a utensil announcing ‘helmet hatao’ on his head, leaders of Opposition Congress and the AAP holding protests, and local BJP leaders maintaining a studied silence: All this and more were witnessed in Rajkot as the Traffic Police began a crackdown on those violating the mandatory helmet rule in the largest city of Saurashtra.
There is nothing new about the exercise, though: In 2019, the Rajkot Traffic Police had tried implementing the rule in earnest in the city but the plan didn’t bear fruit with the local population being patently against donning the headgear. In 2018, the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety had found compliance at a meagre 3% in the city.
On Monday, the Rajkot Traffic Police collected fines worth Rs 3.24 lakh from 648 riders, and further issued online e-challans of Rs 9.215 lakh to 1,923 riders, in its latest attempt at enforcing the nationwide law.
At Madhapur Chowkdi, Gujarat Congress Vice President Gayatriba Vaghela led the protest against the helmet rule before being detained by the police. “Our stance is that the roads should be repaired first and then the helmet rule must be enforced. Helmets are good on the highways, but we are protesting it (the compulsion to wear them) within city limits. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) talks about Vikas (development) but it is not there on the ground. The roads are not good anywhere in Gujarat; they are not providing proper diversion in places where overbridges are coming up. In the name of fines, the police collected Rs 3.5 lakh in three hours. They are just making laws to loot the public.”
She said, “People are not dying just because they don’t wear helmets. Recently, a girl died despite wearing a helmet… We will take up the matter (protests) in other cities as well.”
The Congress and the AAP may not be seeing eye to eye on most matters in Gujarat, but the anti-helmet stance seems to have united both the opposition parties.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajkot City President Dinesh Joshi said, “This (helmet) law is only meant to fill the government’s coffers. It comes every couple of years, runs for a month to collect election funds, and then stops. The authorities follow this rule just to endear themselves to the government. But the police don’t take any action against illegal sand-filled vehicles coming through the city.”
Like Congress’s Vaghela, AAP’s Joshi is firmly in favour of the helmet rule being enforced only on highways. “There are many problems with the helmet. You cannot see on the side, cannot hear if anyone is honking…” he added.
Joshi said, “The helmet rule is implemented round the year in other cities but in Rajkot, they just bring it for a month. Once they collect enough money, they stop its implementation.”
When contacted, BJP’s Rajkot City President Dr Madhav Dave said he had forwarded the representations of citizens to the party leadership, adding he would not like to comment on a decision taken by the ruling government in the state.
In a letter to CM Bhupendra Patel, another BJP leader, former Rajkot South MLA Govind Patel, expressed his concern with regard to the rule. He pointed out that though making helmets mandatory was a commendable move to stop deaths in accidents, it was not needed in a city where it wasn’t possible to drive at more than 15-20 kmph due to the traffic.
The letter went on to say, “When a husband, wife and one or two children go shopping in the market, it becomes difficult to handle the kids and the helmets both.” Patel suggested that the state government ask the court to grant relief to the helmet rule within city limits.
Previous failed attempt
Notably, after the public backlash to the Gujarat government’s previous attempt, the then Transport Minister had orally declared helmets as optional within city limits. Following the announcement by the cabinet minister in the government of late CM Vijay Rupani, who was also from Rajkot, the Supreme Court’s committee had allegedly taken the state to task on the subject. However, the state government made a U-turn the very next month in January 2020, when it told the HC that no such official notification had been issued.
More recently, in October 2024, the bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal of the Gujarat High Court, which has been hearing a suo motu case in this matter, cracked down on the state for its failings in implementing the helmet rule.
Helmet-less deaths in Gujarat
According to the Comprehensive Road Accident Analysis Report – Gujarat State 2023, published by the Gujarat Road Safety Authority on September 25, 2024, 76.3% of individuals involved in fatal two-wheeler accidents in the state were not wearing a helmet.
A breakdown of those involved in fatal two-wheeler accidents while not wearing a helmet in 2023 in Gujarat shows that 2,767 such riders lost their lives, including 2,059 drivers and 708 people riding pillion. Further, 2,699 people were grievously injured and 1,203 suffered minor injuries.
According to data from the State Traffic Branch (STB) of Gujarat Police, the number of fatal road traffic accidents of two-wheelers in Rajkot city rose from 64 out of 240 cases in 2023 to 86 out of 248 cases in 2024. This is a rise of 34% in fatal accidents.
In 2023, of the 66 people killed, 44 were not wearing a helmet. In 2024, of the 91 people killed, 70 were not wearing a helmet.
In 2023, of the 144 grievously injured, 116 were helmet-less. And in 2024, of the 156 grievously injured, 118 were without helmets.
According to data from GVK-EMRI emergency ambulance service, the number of victims of road traffic accidents who have suffered serious or fatal injuries and had to be shifted to hospitals has seen a steady rise in Rajkot city.
The number of two-wheeler riders and pillion passengers taken to hospital after an accident in Rajkot city rose from 2,938 patients in 2021-22 to 3,907 in 2024-25.
Police efforts
It is not the case that the latest crackdown on helmet-less driving came without warning. In February, Gujarat DGP Vikas Sahay ordered a state-wide drive against government staffers not using helmets. The order had said, “Government employees are considered responsible citizens and are looked upon as role models … It is important to implement the helmet rule in Gujarat to mitigate the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by road traffic accidents.”
On Monday, the Rajkot Traffic Police fined 23 staffers arriving at the office of the Rajkot City Commissioner of Police, 19 at the City Police Headquarters, 32 at the office of Superintendent of Rajkot Rural Police, and 40 at the Bahumali Bhavan (secretariat).
Preparations for the helmet-rule implementation have been underway in Rajkot for the last 45 days but so have protests by local residents against it.
A police officer, since transferred from Rajkot, told The Indian Express, “We had conducted a lot of awareness programmes in schools, at bus stands and other public places. More than 50,000 pamphlets were distributed, selfie points were created and posters were put up across the city. We did a lot of outreach through social media on X and Instagram by connecting awareness with pop culture.”
Rajkot Commissioner of Police Brajesh Kumar Jha told The Indian Express, “We are not here to collect fines, we want everyone to wear helmets so that their lives are protected. If even some lives are saved because of helmets, this drive will be successful.”
On Rajkot’s perennial reluctance towards helmets, Jha said, “That is why we tried not to do it hurriedly. We gave the people 45 days’ time so that they can purchase helmets in time. I will be the happiest if the police are not able to penalise anyone. Till yesterday, hardly 5% of people were wearing helmets but this morning, about 50% had worn them, which increased by evening. We hope that this number will only rise because we are very serious about implementing the rule in a full-fledged manner.”
The rule includes a Rs 500 fine, applicable to the two-wheeler driver as well as the pillion rider. After three offences, the driver’s licence can be suspended by the RTO on request by the police.
The Congress and the AAP may not be seeing eye to eye on most matters in Gujarat, but the anti-helmet stance seems to have united both the opposition parties (Express Photo) 
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