Even as the compulsory helmet rule for two-wheelers proved very effective last year with the number of fatalities reducing in 2015, drunken driving and rash driving has contributed by and large to the numbers increasing fatalities by a meagre per cent in 2016.

According to the Crime Records Bureau, around 265 persons were killed in road accidents in 2015, 25 of them succumbing in the last two months of the year. A total of 1,543 were injured in the year; the number was 20 less than the previous year. The reduction was attributed to the compulsory helmet rule back then.

However, in 2016, as many as 276 fatalities have been recorded with three days still left in the 265 fatal cases booked in the city limit. A total of 987 injury cases have been registered in which only 1,109 persons have been injured.

While a concern about not implementing the helmet rule strictly has come up because of the rising fatalities, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), S Saravanan said that the numbers were caused by negligence driving.

“The number of accidents has come down by a large number and it is because of rash driving and drunken driving that more accidents have been recorded in the city,” he said. He also added that pedestrians are affected because of such rash driving by drunkards. “Most of the deceased often happen to be pedestrians who meet with an unfortunate end,” he told the Covai Post.

According to a senior official from the City Police, “We have planned to organise special checking on New Year’s Eve and all culprits will be fined heftily on the day.”

Meanwhile, a senior official from the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) said that after the implementation of the rule, head injuries have reduced up to 40 per cent. “Most of the injuries are borne by pedestrians and those driving under the influence of alcohol without helmets,” he said.