Police to enforce helmet use in Punjab

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered the police to enforce use of helmets by motorcyclists, as part of implementation of traffic laws across the province.

The court issued the order on a petition filed by a lawyer who contended that a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) had revealed that in Pakistan, 25.3 deaths per 100,000 occurred due to road accidents, which was much higher than international statistics.

The petitioner asked the court to direct the police to implement traffic laws across the province, including wearing of helmets by motorcyclists. He also asked that the government be directed to fix prices of helmets so that the profiteers could not extort money from the public.

Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi then directed the Punjab IGP to strictly enforce the use of helmets by motorcyclists without any discrimination and submit a compliance report within a week.