Wear your helmut? Or, where your helmut (sic)

[intern]

SCORES ARRESTED AS SAFETY LAW ENFORCED

 

 

+ Click to Enlarge http://vne-resource.iol.co30/picdb/article0/d/e/119379 NOT A HELMET IN SIGHT: There are at least half a dozen okadas (motorcycle taxis) in this street scene in Kano, Nigeria - and the closest thing to a helmet is the hat on the rider at left.

 

 

January 9, 2009

By Mike Oboh

 

Police in Nigeria have arrested scores of motorcycle taxi riders with

dried fruit-shells, paint pots or pieces of rubber tyre tied to their

heads with string to avoid a new law requiring them to wear helmets.

 

 

 

The regulations have caused chaos across Nigeria with motorcyclists

complaining helmets are too expensive and some passengers refusing to

wear them in case they catch a skin disease or be put under a spell.

 

 

 

The law, which came into force this month, pits two factions equally

feared by the common driver vagainst one another: erratic motorcycle

taxis known as okadas, whose owners are notorious for road-rage, and

the bribe-hungry traffic police

Construction workers have set up a lucrative trade renting out their safety helmets

.

 

 

 

Some bikers have used calabashes - dried shells of pumpkin-sized fruit

usually used as a bowl - or pots and pans tied to their heads with

string to try to dodge the rules.

 

 

 

Construction workers have set up a lucrative trade renting out their safety helmets for around 500 naira (about R48) a day.

 

 

 

"They use pots, plates, calabashes, rubber and plastic as makeshift

helmets," said Yusuf Garba, commander of the Federal Road Safety

Commission in the northern town of Kano.

 

http://www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4785428