If you look at the data of road accidents happening around the world, then Russia has the highest number of deaths. India ranks second in terms of road accident deaths. In India, on an average, 1.35 lakh people die every year due to accidents, while 1.20 lakh people are seriously injured.
According to a report 4 people die every hour in India because of not wearing helmets. A common man in Bihar has gone out of his way to reduce these accidents. His name is Raghvendra Kumar.
Raghvendra Kumar was born in Bihar. He is a law graduate from Lloyd Law College, Greater Noida. He has earned the nickname ‘Helmet man’ in Bihar and many other neighbouring states. He is not only a life-saver as well as a career saver. He distributes free helmets as well as books to the poor children.
His friend Krishna Kumar Thakur from Bihar died on the spot in an accident in Delhi. The accident was caused because he was not wearing a helmet. His family was in shock as he was the only child of the family. He was born after 17 years of marriage. His family was shattered and devastated. This moved him so profoundly that he let go of his aim to practice law. He started distributing free helmets, in the memory of his friend, to motorcyclists who were not wearing these on roads of Noida to Bihar.
According to a study, more than 90% of accidents happening on the roads of India daily can be avoided if people start wearing helmets. Initially, this particular activity exasperated his parents who held back his pocket money. He did not get the support he needed.
He did part-time retail jobs and purchased the helmets from his earnings. He was short of money to buy new helmets. There was no one to help him in his noble cause. Doing this ruined his financial conditions and he finally had to sell his Delhi house to continue distributing helmets. No problem could stop him from continuing his selfless initiative.
In a conversation with Kumar, he said that he has distributed more than 49,200 helmets in 9 states.
One day, while he was distributing helmets, he donated books to a boy who belonged to a poor family. After a few months, the boy’s father rang him up and thanked him because his son had topped the intermediate examination in college after having studied from the books donated by him. He got emotional and began asking for old and used books in lieu of helmets.
This led him to start ‘ER-11 book bank’ in 2016 from Greater Noida. His efforts got an encouraging response from the public. Books kept coming in and he had to extend the book bank to Bihar, UP and Delhi. Since 2016, Kumar has distributed books among more than 1 lakh students.
We all must learn and take a pledge to wear a helmet while driving a two wheeler. Voice Asia News salutes the spirit of India’s helmet man Raghavendra who is giving the message – ‘You are just one person for the whole world but for your family, you are the whole world, so wear a helmet while driving a two wheeler’. He is an inspiration for every citizen of this country.