Avoiding a vegetative state - by wearing a vegetable???

I had to laugh at a BBC report from Nigeria.

Motorcyclists in Nigeria have been wearing dried pumpkin shells on their heads to dodge new laws forcing them to wear helmets, authorities have said.

Officials in the northern city of Kano said they had stopped several people 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 drivers have staged protests.

Calabashes are dried pumpkin shells more commonly used to carry liquid.

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.

Motorcycle taxis, called "achaba" in the north of the country and "okada" in the south, are a cheap way for Nigerians to get around congested and chaotic city streets.

Many drivers of the motorcycle taxis are furious over the new law, which came into force on New Year's Day.

In the city of Kaduna, drivers waved palm fronds and rode in convoy to protest at the price of helmets, which can cost up to $29 (£20).

They say passengers often steal the helmets once they reach their destination.

Stories have also appeared in the local papers highlighting passengers' fears that the helmets could be used by motorcyclists to cast spells on their clients, making it easy for them to be robbed.

"Some people can put juju inside the helmets and when they are worn the victim can either lose consciousness or be struck dumb," passenger Kolawole Aremu told the Daily Trust newspaper.

In case you find it hard to believe, dear reader, allow me to assure you that they're dead serious in their fear of 'juju' in the helmets. In Africa, the use of witch-doctors and their 'juju' (known as 'muti' in the Southern part of the continent, where I was born and raised) is so commonplace as to confound Westerners. Belief in the power of this 'medicine' is so strong that I've known men fall into a comatose state and die, simply because they were told that they'd been put under a death curse. I'm not making that up. It really happened - and happens to this day.

Anyway, I had to laugh at the pumpkin-head defiance of the helmet laws. I know a few redneck Cajun bikers in these parts who'd probably think it a good idea!

Peter