Bhubaneswar, March 15: Motorists in the capital seem to be opposed to wearing helmets despite a number of sensitisation drives on traffic rules carried out by the city police over the years. Over one lakh people have been caught driving without helmet since 2010. The fine that the police have collected from violators during this period has amounted to whooping Rs 87.07 lakh.

“We are taking steps to make the people aware about wearing helmets. Our purpose is not to impose fine, but to sensitise them in this regard,” said deputy commissioner of police, Himanshu Lal.

He also admitted that road accidents were a major cause of concern for the police.

“We have to improve the roads and make people aware of the importance of safe lane driving. We do have some of the finest traffic constables and police officers to enforce traffic rules,” Lal added.

Assistant commissioner of police (ACP) traffic, Niramal Satpathy, said: “People always appreciate the move of traffic police to create awareness. But the lack of civic sense among a section of the public creates traffic problems.”

Satpathy further maintained that despite massive awareness campaigns, there were still many people who do not use helmets. “With our limited manpower, we are going ahead with imposing fines on people for not wearing helmets,” he said.

Although the city police can impose a fine up to Rs 1,000 under the Urban Police Act, it generally lets off violators after charging Rs 100.

Earlier, the police had introduced another innovative method to educate people to wear helmets. They had roped in celebrities to greet motorists wearing helmets with roses while those without the protective headgear had to accept rakhis. To create awareness on using seat belts while driving four wheelers, the city police had given green cards to those using seat belts and red cards to those violating the rule.

The green cards with rose symbols carried the message — “Congratulation, Your life is safe, Always use seat belt.” The red cards carrying thorn symbols said: “Warning! Don’t risk injury. Always use seat belt.” Even Ollywood stars were roped in to create awareness on the use of seat belts.