Helmet saves youth in Pune-Mumbai highway mishap

A youth whose motorcycle hit a goods carrier, lived to tell the tale, thanks to his helmet. The mishap occurred at the Poultry Farm Chowk on Pune-Mumbai Road on Tuesday morning.

A traffic constable, Ranjana Burungale, attached to Khadki traffic division told DNA, “The motorcyclist was riding at break-neck speed and was travelling towards Pune from Khadki. The goods carrier was travelling at a moderate speed and came to the chowk from the Range Hills side of the road.”

The motorcyclist, in spite of his best efforts could not slow down and hit the goods carrier. Recollecting the incident, Burungale said, “Such was the intensity of the impact that the youth was flung a great distance from the spot. When I rushed the spot, I saw his helmet had cracked due to the impact. Had it not been for the helmet, he would have succumbed on the spot.”

DNA staffer Sachin Watane, a witness of the accident, corroborated Burungale’s conclusion about the helmet saving the youth’s life. “The traffic constable was very enterprising and helped the injured motorcyclist a lot,” he said.

The youth suffered minor bruises and was soon on his way home with his prized possession, the cracked helmet that saved his life.

A number of mishaps have been reported, in which the deaths could have been averted by the use of helmets. In September, four people were killed in road accidents in the city. Most of the casualties took place due to serious head injuries.

On September 22, a motorcyclist, Shrikant Shinde, 28, died after he hit the divider on Ganeshkhind Road on Wednesday at around 7.30 pm. He was not wearing a helmet.

On September 30, Tajuddin Badshah Shah, 32, died after his motorcycle was knocked down by a state transport bus. He was on his way to Swargate. The police did not find any helmet at the spot.

On September 5, a senior professor and laboratory peon of the Dighi-based Army Institute of Technology (AIT) were killed on the spot in a gruesome road accident on the Wakdewadi-Sadalbaba Dargah Chowk link road on Monday. They were travelling to the city on a motorcycle from Dighi when they collided head-on with an unidentified speeding bus. Both were killed on the spot. The police had found a helmet at the spot but it was totally damaged due to the impact of the accident.

The police inspector, Vijaykumar Palsule (traffic administration) told DNA, “We have been urging motorcyclists to wear helmets, but people are not serious about it. Sadly, in most of the fatalities, the motorcyclists die due to head injuries as they didn’t wear helmets,” he said, adding that, the traffic police are conducting programmes for raising awareness about the issue along with NGO Margdarshak.