What one arm of governance does, the other promptly undoes.

I had commented here about how good a thing it was that helmets were made compulsory
for bikers (and wearing seatbelts for car users) in TamilNadu (T.N.).

But looks like I spoke a little too early. While on the day of implementation, I could see
almost 100% use of helmets among the biking population, now it is back to the usual
Chennai scene - only those that anyway used to wear a helmet before the rule came
into force can be seen wearing one.

While it took a Public Interest Litigation and years of follow-up by a concerned citizen
to make the High Court order the T.N. Govt. to make helmets compulsory, all it took
to undo it was a couple of irresponsible statements by none other than the Chief
Minister (CM) of T.N..

A couple of days after D-day (1st June 2007), the CM issues a press statement, the gist
of which is "While the new rule is good and all, we would not want the public to be harassed
by the cops for not wearing helmet. We would like the cops to take a lenient view while
enforcing this rule".

Hmm. A person who is supposed to provide an example and direction to the public tells
the cops to be lenient. What would you expect to happen ? Ofcourse the public is happy
that they do not have to wear helmets and can now have their heads damaged well and
proper in the event of an accident.

A day or so later comes another statement. "Women/children riding pillion should not
be penalised for not wearing helmets. Just enforce helmets only for the rider".

How more illogical can you get ? It has been proved that in the event of accidents, it is
the pillion rider who suffers major injuries than the rider. Also, are the lives of women
and children not important enough ?

But why blame the politicians alone ? It has been rightly said that people get the leaders
they deserve. The fact that it takes a Court directive and a government law to make us do something that we should have been doing of our own accord and for our own safety, shows
us for the people we are. Given that, this is the only leadership we deserve.

Anyway, I have personally benefitted from this rule. While earlier, I would use the seat
belts only on the highway drives, me and my car-pool mate now belt up even within the city.