Two-wheeler sales in Maharashtra will soon see OEMs ensure two BIS-standard helmets being provided to customers at the time of new vehicle sales as per the Motor Vehicles Act or face a blanket bank in the state as per a letter accessed by Autocar Professional, which was issued by the Transport Commissioner of Maharashtra on March 5, 2020 that has been sent to apex automobile manufacturer body SIAM.

The letter by the Transport Commissioner states that if this the rules are not  followed, two-wheeler registration in Maharashtra would be stopped without any further intimation.

This development is subsequent to the order of the Maharashtra High Court Nagpur Bench in the matter of public interest litigation, PIL 9 (2019). The Maharashtra High Court Nagpur Bench took serious offence for not following its order of supply two ISI-helmets to a two-wheeler buyer and it was of the opinion to ban registration of new two-wheelers in Maharashtra.

The PIL stated that the Rule 138(4)(f) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, which prescribes that at the time of purchase of the two-wheeler, the manufacturer of the two-wheeler shall supply a protective headgear conforming to specifications prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986.

The court found that in the current scenario, the manufacturers are violating the laws and are not supplying any protective headgear at the time of the sale of two-wheelers, further increasing the threat of fatal road accidents.

The dealers, who were summoned and made party to the PIL, have given an affidavit before the court that 8 leading OEMs are supplying the vehicle without the helmet or headgear, so they were not able to provide the same to the customers. The High Court Nagpur bench directed that an intimation of the same to be sent to these OEMs, along with SIAM, to strictly implement the decision to ensure supply of 2 helmets meeting the BSI standards to the buyer by the manufacturer.

The Court then directed the Transport Commissioner to ensure that the prescribed ISI helmets as per BSI standards were being supplied by the manufacturer, failing which the court will ban the registration of two-wheelers in the entire state.

Despite two-wheeler users being exposed to real danger on Indian roads and accounting for the highest number of road fatalities as also the mandate by the government of India on use of a life-saving helmet, the non-usage of helmets caused around 43,614 deaths (approximately 29%) of total deaths in 2018.

It is to be noted that more than 3,500 two-wheelers riders and over 1,700 pillion riders lost their lives due to non-usage of helmets in Maharashtra state in 2018. Maharashtra was among the top three states with the highest road deaths in this category. In Mumbai, the financial capital of the country alone, riding without helmet was a cause of concern in 2016 with 424,000 challans being issued. But it dipped to 145,000 challans in 2017 and 114,000 in 2018. As per a road safety report by World Health Organisation, head injuries are a leading cause of death among motorised two- and three-wheeler users. The right use of a helmet can lead to 42 percent reduction of risk in fatal and 69 percent in head injuries.

READ MORE: Road accidents in India claimed 415 lives, injured 1,286 people each day in 2018