India: Resolution on Compulsory Helmet Use

In India, the National Action Network for the Bone and Joint Disease Decade (2000-2010) has unanimously supported a resolution calling for national compulsory helmet use.

Although mandatory helmet use for motorized two-wheelers has been national law in India since 1988, jurisdiction of transport issues is the responsibility of states. Each state has to enforce transport laws individually. The majority of the states have chosen not to enforce the law. In some states like Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala, the law was enforced but later repealed because of protests by a few motorcyclists. Though the number of motorcyclists protesting the law was small, a few physicians supported their protest by raising unfounded concerns about neck problems, reduced hearing and vision, and skin diseases. In those states where the law has been enforced, helmet use has increased.

The National Action Network hopes that its resolution will increase the visibility of the injury problems associated with unhelmeted motorcycle riding and will stimulate Indian states to revisit and reinstate enforcement of compulsory helmet laws.

View a copy of the resolution.

-submitted by Dinesh Mohan, Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India

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