When it comes to safe riding, wearing helmets is indispensable. However, it is mostly ignored. Now, a team from VIT University has come up with an invention to make motorists wear helmets.
The team has developed “Safety enhanced headgear” in which the helmet is provided with sensors to sense the activities such as strapping of the helmet, collision detection, sensing intoxication, direction and speed, electronic control unit, bidirectional communication unit and an audio system.
“ The vehicle is also fitted with sensors and electronic control unit along with mobile communication system, position sensing sensors and bidirectional communication unit,” K. Ganesan, director, TIFAC-CORE, VIT University told reporters recently.
With these add-ons, the vehicle and helmet can ‘communicate with each other.’
“The ignition will start only if the motorist is wearing a helmet,” he said.
In a second project, the university has come up with automatic video processing based system for identifying whether a person driving a two-wheeler is wearing a helmet or not and detect the vehicle’s number plate.
The system is interfaced with a GPS device and timer circuit and could be located at places such as traffic junctions to help police personnel.
The university has also come up with a method to curb the use of cell phones while driving.
Mr. Ganesan said they have invented a short-range mobile jammer interfaced with the gear system. This could be installed in a vehicle and activated whenever the vehicle is in other than neutral gear position.
“It has coverage of up to two feet. It can be fitted in buses and lorries to prevent drivers from speaking on cell phones while driving,” he said. In gearless vehicles such as two wheelers, it can be implemented using wheel speed, sensing engine RPM.
The university has filed Indian patents for all three inventions. VIT University Chancellor G. Viswanathan was present.
