CLAIM
A video is being widely circulated on social media with a claim that low quality helmets have been banned in Hyderabad since “yesterday.” The video shows a policeman stopping a motorcycle and throwing away the helmet of a rider. A heap of helmets can be seen lying on the road.
The claim along with the video reads: “Low class helmets banned in Hyderabad from yesterday.”
Several social media users have shared the video on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.
The Quint received a query about the claim made in the video on its WhatsApp Helpline.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim along with the video is false. The video is not from Hyderabad but from Hassan district in Karnataka.
Regarding the ban on low quality helmets, the Hyderabad police on their WhatsApp helpline denied issuing any such statement. However, it advised to use ISI (Indian Standards Institute) approved standard helmets to avoid accidents and mishaps.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We reached out to the Hyderabad police on their WhatsApp helpline number, who said that the video is not from Hyderabad and denied that the state police had issued any such statement saying that low quality helmets have been banned.
Consequently, we tried taking clues from the video to identify where it is from. Firstly, at 0:18 seconds, we saw a motorcycle with a number plate with initials that looked like ‘KA’ indicating that the video might be from Karnataka.
Secondly, we saw a shop’s banner that reads ‘Quetee’. We searched for the shop with keywords ‘Quetee Karnataka’ on Google Earth. The computer program that renders a 3D representation of Earth, based primarily on satellite imagery, led us to a street view that is identical to the one seen in the video. For instance, the location of Quetee Collections shop being at the corner of the road, the structure of Shastha Public School and the main road.
It also indicated that the shop lies in Karnataka’s Hassan district.
Speaking to The Quint, a worker in Quetee Collections in Hassan said that the incident took place 5-6 days back when the cops were stopping riders who were using low quality helmets or “half helmets.”
POLICE ADVISORY ON USING ISI HELMETS
A senior official in the Hyderabad Traffic police told The Quint that people should wear ISI-approved helmets which are of good quality to avoid mishaps. Evading the question, he said, “Ban or no ban, that’s not the question. People should wear ISI approved helmets. Wearing low quality helmets is as good as wearing no helmets.”
In January 2018, Karnataka DG and IGP Neelamani Raju had mandated to wear ISI mark helmets in Bengaluru. Sources had then told The Quint that the then Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who appreciated the campaign by Mysuru police, had asked the DG and IGP to make the rule mandatory for the entire state.
However, the Bengaluru City traffic police later withdrew the decision as the Bureau of Indian Standards, in a letter to the traffic commissioner, had stated that there is no clear way to find out if the prescribed safety standards can be examined only by visual inspection, NDTV reported.
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