LICENSE MUST TO BUY TWO WHEELER

Salt Lake: Driving licence will now be mandatory to buy a two-wheeler and get it registered, transport minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Wednesday.

The regional transport offices have already been instructed and auto dealers have been told any violation could result in cancellation of trade licence, the minister said.

"We have invoked a provision of the central motor vehicles rules that allows such restriction," Adhikari said. "The directive comes into effect immediately."

Two-wheeler dealers will now have to keep a record of the driving licence number of every buyer, a transport department official said. The record has to be shown to transport officials on demand.

The recent spate of accidents involving two-wheelers prompted the move. The government hopes it will bring down fatalities and injuries.

On June 25, Akash Dutta, 11, and Bittu Sen, 11, riding on a scooter's pillion were killed after being sandwiched between two racing buses. The scooterist, a 23-year-old man, had to be admitted to RG Kar hospital with severe injuries.

Earlier last month, two youths were critically injured when the motorcycle they were on crashed into an iron fence along Jessore Road. People of the area had claimed that the stretch turned into a racing zone for two-wheelers at night.

In April, four people were killed in three bike accidents at Kulpi and Bhangar in South 24-Parganas.

Many people have claimed that the Bypass, the Lake Gardens flyover and the Garden Reach flyover turn into racing zones at night.

On June 24, a 21-year-old student riding a motorcycle without a helmet died after crashing into the footpath on the approach to Lake Gardens flyover from the Prince Anwar Shah Road-end.

"The government has been spending crores on road safety as part of its Safe Drive Save Life campaign," a traffic police officer said.

"Fatalities have dipped slightly but the number of accidents hasn't come down," the officer said. "The result of campaigning about helmets and not speeding is still to be seen."

Two-wheelers are banned on flyovers in the city between 10pm and 6am.

The idea was to bring down accidents given the tendency of two-wheeler riders to speed down empty stretches at night.

Fuel pumps in the city were directed not to give petrol to two-wheeler riders without helmets.

"We hope the government's latest move will at least ensure only those who are licensed to ride two-wheelers buy them," an officer of east traffic guard said.

In Calcutta, schoolchildren are often seen riding two-wheelers and without helmets. Prosecutions are generally few and offenders are mostly let off with a warning.