Non-ISI helmets will be banned in India by the end of this year. Recently at the launch of Sukhad Yatra mobile application, a senior transport ministry official said that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has informed honorable Supreme Court about the development and the process will take six months to get completed. At present, around 75 to 80 percent helmets used by the two-wheeler owners do not have the ISI certification. The estimated requirement of helmets is around 90 million units per year. With the Government intervention, only those helmets will be on sale that will have an ISI certification. A few days back, the misinformed Bengaluru Police had announced that only ISI helmets will be allowed and more expensive DOT and ECE rated helmets will not be allowed. When the case became viral on social media, the Police department said that it asked the transport department for clarification and by the time the answer comes, no penalty will be imposed on riders having an expensive headgear. Later on, after getting a clarification, the non-ISI helmet ban was lifted as it is very difficult to determine whether a helmet is ISI or not just by visual examination.
For this reason, there is no clarity at the moment as to what will happen to the buyers of the expensive helmets. Though the portion of people using such highly priced helmets is quite low, the issue with the majority of people using substandard helmets will get sorted.
Speaking on the development, Rajeev Kapur, President, ISI helmet manufacture Association said, “We are proud of our policy makers as this was much needed. Looking at the current statics over 75% to 80% of helmets used by two-wheeler riders across India do not meet ISI standards, the market is flooded with sub-standard products that compromise on safety despite a fourth of all road deaths involve two-wheeler occupants. Regardless of the fact that wearing a helmet is a good way to ensure safety; in our country riders underestimate its role too and tend to buy cheap helmets, which does not protect them well. And unfortunately, this has worsened the situation and giving rise to the substandard helmet manufacturers.”
“To produce a single helmet as per the specification, the minimum making cost is Rs. 300-400. It is not feasible to manufacture helmets with the prescribed specification in less than Rs. 300. And the price variation factor is one major reason why helmet market is flooded with cheap and spurious products,” he added.
Express Drives urges its readers to invest in good quality ISI certified helmets and if possible, go for even better one.
