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| Healthy riding? Vegetable helmet! |
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Road safety in the western world seems to be catching on: helmet, jacket..etc... but in Africa they've still got a some 'issues' to work out, as this report by the BBC Illustrates.
Motorcyclists in Nigeria have been wearing dried pumpkin shells on their heads to dodge a new law forcing them to wear helmets, authorities say. Officials in the northern city of Kano said they had stopped several riders with "improvised helmets", following this month's introduction of the law. Road safety officials said calabash-wearers would be prosecuted. Thousands of motorbikes have been impounded around the country and taxi motorbike drivers have staged protests. Calabashes are dried pumpkin shells more commonly used to carry liquid. According to the new law, all motorbike drivers and motorbike passengers must wear helmets. Kano Federal Road Safety Commission commander Yusuf Garba told the BBC they were taking a hard line with people found using the improvised helmets. "We are impounding their bikes and want to take them to court so they can explain why they think wearing a calabash is good enough for their safety," he said. Fifty motorbikes had been seized so far in Kano city alone, he added.
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