While wearing a helmet does not ensure that you are not going to get into an accident, it certainly lowers the risk of injury and death. Unfortunately, many people who ride bikes wear helmets only when they see police officers conducting checks.

This happens despite the strict new laws that have been introduced by the authorities.

“We thought of doing something to make it mandatory for people who ride two-wheelers to wear a helmet, and came up with the ‘Smart Helmet,’” says Amal Varghese from St.Georges Higher Secondary School in Puthenpally, Kerala.

Their prototype does not let wearers start their vehicle if they don’t wear their helmets. A device is placed in the strap of the helmet, and another in the vehicle’s engine. This strap is the key to all connections. Only when a rider locks the strap will the censors be activated and let the vehicle start.

There is also a sensor in the helmet that reads the rider’s blood-alcohol level. The vehicle will not start if the person is above the limit.

“Apart from that, when the rider meets with an accident, the smart helmet will alert the nearest police station and hospital to make sure that they receive timely medical attention,” says Antony, the co-creator of this innovation.

“We are also concerned about deaths happening due to drowsiness, so in the future, we plan to add a sensor that observes the eyes of the riders to gauge how drowsy they are,” says Ajith Paul, the third innovator.

“We hope that our innovation will help reduce the number of accidents happening in India. It is disturbing to read about so many road accidents in the newspapers every day. A simple act of wearing a helmet can help save hundreds of lives, and that’s exactly what we want to achieve.”