Students Invent Tech To Prevent Bikes From Starting If Rider Is Drunk Or Not Wearing Helmet

A few engineering students from a Bangalore-based college have come up with what seems like a solution to drinking and riding, and riding without the helmet. The group of four engineering students have come up with helmets that rely on technology and communicate with the two-wheeler's ignition system.

This way, if the helmet is not worn or the rider is drunk, the motorcycle's ignition system will be prevented from starting. Every year, thousands of two-wheeler riders die from road accidents and a majority of the deaths occur due to the rider not wearing a helmet.

A smaller, yet significant number get killed due to driving/riding while intoxicated. Governments and traffic police departments have tried numerous ways to put an end to this. This includes, awareness campaigns, steep fines, vehicle seizures however, it seems like nothing has worked very well so far.

Every single day, people can still be found riding under the influence of alcohol and a bigger number can be found riding without their helmets on. This helmet-based technology that these students have come up with might just be the answer.

Saivenkat, Nikhitha, Megha and Suvra are all students of MVJ College of Engineering and have come up with this unique invention. According to them, the helmet has been equipped with a sensor similar to that used in breathalysers and a touch sensor as well.

The former sensor detects the alcohol level by analysing the rider's breath while the latter detects skin contact to check if the rider has actually worn the helmet. This data is then transferred to the vehicle via a bluetooth module that either gives the green or red signal to the vehicle's ignition system.

The students have also created another variant of the helmet that can be used by construction workers. This variant is equipped with GPS sensors and vibration sensors that send off a signal when excessive vibrations are detected, indicating that an accident has occurred and transmits the location of the person when the accident occurred. We can see use for these two sensors even in the motorcycle helmets they created.

Thoughts On Smart Helmet That Prevents Bike From Starting If Not Worn Or If Rider Is Drunk

A solution like this wouldn't be hard to implement by lawmakers.More than helmet manufacturers and motorcycle manufacturers taking notice of these students and their invention, it is the law enforcement authorities that need to take notice. Making it compulsory for such a technology to be implemented by helmet makers and two-wheeler makers would bring down the accident rates drastically.

Source: Deccan Herald