If someone in Nigeria calls someone else a “pumpkin head” they might be correct:
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.
So some have put something on their heads that runs the risk of someone turning them into a pie.
But the government is responding, the BBC report goes on to say:
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.
It’s dangerous wearing a vegetable for a helmet.
You might get squashed.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.