Consumers Beware: Make sure children wear helmets
Last fortnight, a 10-year-old boy, Khagendra, died in a road accident while being taken to school by his father on his two-wheeler in Whitefield, Bengaluru. The father survived the collision with an SUV but suffered serious injuries. Both were not wearing helmets.
Such tragic incidents involving children on two-wheelers, particularly while on way to school or returning from school, are many. In October last year, six-year-old Nandini Shakya died and four others, including three minor girls, suffered injuries when the motorbike on which they were returning home from school was hit by a speeding truck in Noida. As per the Motor Vehicles Act, only two persons are permitted to travel on a two-wheeler, but here, there were five. And the girls were not wearing crash helmets, mandated under the law.
I quote these two accidents to draw attention to the urgent need to ensure the safety of the most susceptible group of passengers on the road — children, particularly while travelling on the most vulnerable mode of transport in the country, the two-wheelers.
Given the high percentage of road accident fatalities among two-wheeler riders, children should not be travelling on them at all! However, keeping in mind the Indian reality, the Motor Vehicles Act and Rules permit them to travel on two-wheelers, but with some safety stipulations. If they are above four years, they must wear a helmet conforming to Indian Standards, formulated and enforced by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
Helmets are mandatory even for children aged nine months to four years, except that the parents have an option of using a crash helmet with an ISI mark or bicycle helmets complying with American or European standards, depending on the age of the child. Children who are above nine months and under four must also wear safety harnesses and be strapped to the driver of the vehicle. And the speed of the vehicle should not exceed 40 km per hour.
However, none of these safety stipulations are being strictly enforced, exposing young children to great risks. Since many schools do not provide buses for the transportation of pupils, and in most Indian cities and towns, pavements are either non-existent or in a state of neglect, parents drop them to school and pick them up on two-wheelers and the children are invariably not wearing any helmet. Studies have revealed that even in large cities, only about 7 per cent of the children wear helmets, and, even here, only 4.5 per cent are ISI-marked.
Even more shocking is the sight of young mothers riding pillion on two-wheelers and carrying sleeping babies in their arms! In case of an accident, the child is far more vulnerable than adults and exposing an infant to such risks is a violation of the child’s right to safety and life guaranteed under the Constitution.
As we observe the ‘National Road Safety Month’ this January, it is critical to address these issues concerning child safety through consumer education and stringent law enforcement. Harnesses for young children are available in the market and state governments must ensure that they are used as required under the law. It is also essential to make sure that bicycle helmets sold in the market conform to the stipulated standards. Use of helmets for children should also be encouraged through tax incentives and subsidies that make them highly affordable.
Having said that, I do feel that the minimum age for a child on a two-wheeler should be raised from nine to 12 months, given the fact that a baby is not very stable at nine months and its neck may not be strong enough to wear a helmet. It is also critical to ensure that non-standard, non-ISI-marked helmets are not sold in the country, through stringent implementation of the Quality Control order that makes ISI certification mandatory for helmets.
Consumers, in turn, should check the authenticity of the ISI mark on the helmet they wish to buy, using the BIS Care App or the BIS website — manakonline.in. At present, about 150 helmet manufacturers have a valid licence to use the ISI mark.
Out of 1,68,491 road accident fatalities in the country reported in 2022, persons travelling on two-wheelers constituted 74,897 or 44.5 per cent.
Two-wheelers constitute roughly about 75 per cent of the total automobile fleet in India. Government data also shows that more than 50,000 two-wheeler travellers who died in road accidents and over 1 lakh riders who were injured were not wearing helmets. Studies have shown that a quality-certified helmet can reduce the risk of death by 42 per cent and injuries by 69 per cent, but this is a message that has not gone to consumers because even in areas where 92 per cent of the bikers were wearing helmets, it was found that only 38 per cent wore proper, certified headgear.
— The writer is a consumer rights and safety expert