‘85% helmets used by riders unsafe’

Makers Say Only 10M ISI Standard Gear Produced Annually Against Demand Of 90M

New Delhi: More than 85% of the helmets used by twowheeler riders across India do not meet ISI standards, helmet manufacturers claimed on Tuesday, saying the market was flooded with substandard products that compromise on safety despite a fourth of all road deaths in the country involving two--wheeler occupants. 

    Major helmet manufacturers raised this issue at the national road safety workshop for vulnerable road users—pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheelers—held in the capital on Tuesday. 

    "There are no more than 100 manufacturers of ISI-approved helmets in the country, although non-ISI helmet makers number a couple of thousands. The estimated demand for helmets is around 90 million pieces per annum while the total capacity of ISI helmets is not more than 10 million pieces," claimed Rajeev Kapoor, managing director of Steelbird Helmets. According to market reports, roughly 13 million twowheelers were sold in India in 2010. 

    Though officials of the road, transport and highways ministry, which organized the workshop, said that there is no study or research about the total number of ISImarked helmets vis-à-vis the ordinary ones, there is no doubt that poor quality helmets—also known as plastic helmets—are found all over the country. 

    A senior ministry official admitted that though there is a "Helmet Action Committee" at the Centre, little has been done so far. Moreover, the Motor Vehicle Act is silent on the wearing of helmets. "It only mentions that rider should "wear protection". So wearing of helmet has not been made compulsory. There is no research on the helmet crash standard and whether the existing 'certified' ones are fit for the tropical standard," he added. 

    The latest World Health Organization report on road accidents across the globe mentions noncompliance of helmet wearing—it includes poor quality—as a key reason of increasing road deaths in developing countries.