Citation

Menon B, Pasupuleti S. Indian J. Community Med. 2019; 44(3): 291-292.

Affiliation

Department of Neurology, Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine, Publisher MedKnow)

DOI

10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_205_19

PMID

31602124

PMCID

PMC6776931

Abstract

India has witnessed an increase of road traffic accidents by 43% over the past 10 years.[1] The most vulnerable age group is the 30–59 years' group. India's share in the road traffic fatalities in the world is very high predominantly from the two-wheeler vehicles.[2] It has been estimated that the total number of road traffic deaths in India is likely to surpass 250,000 by 2025, which requires for urgent measures and rules in place.[3] Motorized two- or three-wheelers are a significant cause of preventable death, predominantly in men of productive age.[4] Of the several road safeties, helmet use during accidents has been shown to have better outcomes.[5],[6]

We conducted a study on 500 patients/caregivers who attended our hospital outpatient services using two-wheeler, to see the reason for not using a helmet while driving two-wheelers. Male: female ratio was 3:1. The average age was 35±6 years. More than half (54%) felt that helmets were not essential. Forty-seven percent did not even own a helmet. Of the 53% who owned helmet, only 22% were using it. However, only 5% were regular users others used it only while traveling in highways. Seventy-one percent had been fined for not using helmets. Sixty-one percent reported having a vehicular accident while driving two-wheeler during the past 1 year. The details of the accident were not enquired. Reasons given for not wearing the helmet are shown in [Table 1]. Patients quoted more than one reason.

Our study showed that patients had several reasons for not using helmets. Although 50% of the patients owned a helmet, only 5% were regular users. Although around 70% had been fined for not using helmets and 61% had an accident earlier, still they preferred not to wear the helmet.

We found that the reasons for not using the helmets were very insignificant and several. Thirty-three percent felt that helmets are not required for their short journeys...

Language: en