LAHORE, March 12: Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court has observed that the use of helmet has been prescribed by a valid law for the safety of motorcyclists, and police cannot be restrained from taking action against violators.

Dismissing in liminie the writ petition against making the use of helmet mandatory for motorcyclists, the court observed that helmet helped two-wheelers save themselves from head injury.

The petition was filed by Advocate M.D. Tahir and the court directed additional advocate-general Muhammad Akbar Tarar on March 4 to issue directions to the Punjab Home Department and the traffic police to exercise leniency for 30 days in booking defiant motorcyclists. The court also asked magistrates not to treat offenders harshly.

The four-page judgment was released to the press on Saturday and in between the lawyer-petitioner moved the high court in a contempt of court petition against the traffic police. He pleaded that the police continued to challan motorcyclists despite a one-month grace period allowed by court.

The court also declared impounding of vehicles for the offence unlawful because a vehicle could be impounded under section 115 of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance (No.XIX of), 1965, only.

The court ruled that if a motorcycle was being impounded for that reasons, it should be returned to its user immediately.

The court directed Mr Tarar to convey the order to the home department and the Punjab police.

The court referred to a report of the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration of the US Department of Transportation, which said helmet neither hampered visibility nor hearing of the rider. Overall, any negative impact of helmet on the rider’s vision appeared to be minor as against protection it ensured.

The court also ruled that violation of traffic laws should be checked, but the police should not treat offenders as criminals. The police had to think that avoiding helmet was not the only crime being committed by people. “Any thing worth doing is never worth overdoing,” the judgment said.

The police, it said, should check the violation of section 89-A of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance but as the violation of any other provision of the ordinance. They should also launch an awareness drive before cracking down on offenders.

Advocate Tahir submitted before his petition was dismissed that making the use of helmet was harsh for motorcyclists and scooter riders in hot weather.

He also argued that the government had not circulated the policy decision for the public opinion and its implementation of the law was arbitrary.