Helmet infringements are and have generally been lower on the list of fines issued by the Cook Islands Police Service, according to Police strategic and media advisor Trevor Pitt.

Pitt says top of the list for traffic infringements are the failures for warrants, annual licence and mirrors. 

He said that in recent months, there have been no helmet fines, since November 2023 when they issued up to five fines in total each month.

“This is a very poor shadow of previous year’s figures, which were regularly boosted by traffic blitzes,” Pitt said.

Pitt made these comments after the Cook Islands Road Safety Council inquired about the number of people convicted, fined or given a warning for not wearing a helmet, or for wearing a helmet that was not properly buckled up or of the correct size.

“Overall, the minor infringement notices (MONs) have been running at a lower level for more than a year. This is due to the impacts of staffing constraints,” said Pitt.

“Until we get back to optimum levels, Police will be dealing with ongoing pressures of reduced numbers.”

Pitt added that they launched a couple of traffic enforcement operations back in July, which were “quite telling” in terms of compliance failures by drivers. 

“Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to get these traffic checkpoints back up to previous year’s levels yet.”

Over a week ago, a male motorcyclist sustained a head injury in the crash that took place just past the Cook Islands Game Fishing Club at Kiikii. Police were called at 12.55am and it was said that the man appeared to have a bicycle helmet, which had broken in the crash.

Pitt stated that there were a lot of non-compliance among motorcyclists and that included failure to secure the strap.

Road Safety Council president Brent Fisher had also called on motorcyclists to follow the law and to wear the correct type of helmet and keep it strapped on.

Fisher said that the helmet law had made a massive difference to the Ministry of Health and a massive saving too to the government because they haven’t had to pay these extravagant fees for medevacs.

There is an approved safety helmet standard, regulated by law and Police have enforced this law.

Pitt reiterated that the current penalty for failing to wear an approved safety helmet is $250, and the imposition of demerit points if convicted.