In 2018, over 11 lakh people were fined for riding two-wheelers without a helmet. To make people introspect about not wearing helmets, Delhi’s head constable Sandeep Shahi came up with a unique approach. During the road safety week in Delhi, he flashed a mirror to violators to make them think about putting themselves in danger. He also prepared slides about road safety that he showed to the commuters.
Shahi told AFP,
“For the last four years, I had been trying to persuade riders to wear helmets but to no avail. Then one day when I was riding pillion with my friend on a bike, I saw myself in the mirror without a helmet and I felt ashamed. Then it struck me that if I make others see themselves in the mirror, they might feel ashamed and start wearing a helmet. A mirror never lies.”
According to Shahi, the trick has worked so far as riders have apologised for breaking the rules and have promised to never go on the roads without the headgear.
This is not the first out-of-the-box initiative by Sandeep Shahi. He became known for gifting helmets to those riding motorbikes without wearing the headgear.
