Bikers’ safety takes backseat with no rule to grade helmets

For most two-wheeler riders, the choice of a helmet is always dictated by its price as they use it not for safety but for avoiding ticketing against violation of traffic rules. So, they end up buying sub-standard helmets.

What is more interesting – there are no local guidelines to determine a standard that helmets should have to ensure safety, allowing random sales of those with shoddy quality that exposes riders to fatal accidents.

Bikers are not in the know about what types of helmets are "appropriate" for wearing. 

For example, Kamrul Hasan, a small businessman in the city's Mohammadpur area, takes his son to school by his motorcycle. Both of them were found wearing substandard plastic-made helmets, putting their lives in danger. 

"I purchased the two because of their cheaper rates – only Tk600 each, and they look good to me. A few months ago, I bought one that cost Tk1,500, which was made of cheap material. That is why I threw that away," Kamrul said.

"No one has told me anything about which I should wear for safety. There is no instruction from the authorities either. So, I use what I find affordable to me" he added.

Sajib, a driver of Pathao – a ride-sharing service, said he uses cheap helmets as the costly ones become unusable within a few months and passengers too prefer lighter ones. 

"Even Pathao authorities also sell helmets made of plastic metal to us," he noted, adding, "How will I choose a standard helmet when there is no system to grade helmets."

The use of shoddy helmets is prevalent everywhere across the country owing to a lack of supervision or no government laboratories to determine their quality.  All the developed countries, even in neighbouring India and Pakistan have their own helmet testing laboratories. 

The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) is only the authority to provide a certificate of standard for any goods either manufactured in Bangladesh or imported. But the state watchdog is yet to build any laboratory for testing the quality of helmets, which are import-dependent. 

Currently, 166 products are under the compulsory certification marks scheme of the BSTI, meaning that marketing of any of these items needs conformity certificates from the BSTI.

Nilufa Hoque, director (standards) at the BSTI, told The Business Standard that they have a plan to build a laboratory for testing all kinds of helmets. "The importers have to get a certificate from the BSTI from now on to sell helmets to their vendors. We will test the helmets at the private testing labs until the government laboratory is established," she said. 

Asked about conducting any operation to check sub-standard helmets she said, they will start the operation in many areas soon.

DMP additional commissioner for traffic Md Munibur Rahman told TBS that many riders and pillions use poor quality helmets. "We just try to encourage them to use quality helmets," he said. 

A significant change is visible regarding wearing helmets by bikers in the capital, but experts think the protective gear many passengers of ridesharing services wear are awfully unsafe and substandard.

Amid the enforcement of laws for ensuring the helmet use by the bikers following the students' "Safe Road" movement, some ridesharing companies, including Uber, Pathao, Obhai and Shohoz, provided helmets to their riders, but police claimed most of those are just caps what the construction workers use.

"The safety of riders and driver partners is of paramount importance to us. The helmets are of good quality and we constantly monitor drivers to use these while driving on our platform," an Uber spokesperson said.  

According to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority's (BRTA) latest data, there are 35 lakh motorcycles in the country. Of them, about 13 lakh motorcycle drivers have no licence. 

The number of motorcycles in Dhaka now is about 7 lakh, which is 20% of total motorcycles in the country. The number was 2.1 lakh in 2010 in Dhaka. 

The market size of the imported helmet is now more than Tk500 crore, according to the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of BUET. 

A recent survey by the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Buet shows that only 10% motorcycle riders and 2% pillions use quality helmets – although wearing the standard ones can save them from fatal injuries.

Only 7% of accidents occurred in Dhaka while 93% in other parts. It found that riders and passengers in rural areas use lesser quality helmets than in the capital. Deaths and injuries are also higher in the rural areas, according to the ARI.

A total of 1,168 people died in motorcycle accidents across the country in 2021, which was 1,097 in 2020, the institute added.

Professor Dr Md Hadiuzzaman, director at the ARI, told TBS, "Unfortunately, there is no government or private organisation to measure the quality of hamates. As a result, substandard helmets have flooded the market even though users get no benefit out of those."

"The government must set up a world standard laboratory to check the quality of helmets either produced in the country or imported from abroad," he added.

Transport and urban experts said the government should fix specific criteria for using safe helmets and impose a ban on importing substandard helmets and their use by bikers to ensure their safety as the number of users of the two-wheeler is growing fast.

According to the experts, there are three basic layers to a motorcycle helmet: The outer shell, the inner crush foam and the inner comfort padding.

The outer shell of a helmet is designed to spread out the force from an impact across the entire shell, minimising the blow. Then comes the crush foam, which is designed to compress and absorb all that shock that the outer shell distributed. The comfort lining is the padding you feel around your head and face, which helps the helmet fit snugly and not chafe.

There are 4 basic materials that helmet shells are made of plastic/ABS, fibreglass, carbon fibre and Kevlar/Dyneema/Aramid. 

How other countries maintain helmet standards 

The United States official law states that all motorcycle helmets sold in the US must be DOT "certified". Helmets that do not meet the minimal DOT certification standards may not be sold as "motorcycle helmets".

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard provides the requirements for "DOT" certification of all helmets sold in the US for use by motorcyclists.

On other hand, the ISI mark is a standards-compliance mark for industrial products in India since 1955. The mark certifies that a product conforms to an Indian standard (IS) developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body of India.

Helmets for two-wheeler riders are mandatory to be tested and certified under the BIS. 

The manufacturers and importers must apply for the ISI mark to the BIS on their products for test and certification, before they sell helmets in the Indian markets.