To reduce fatalities in road accidents and encourage road safety, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has ordered two-wheeler helmet makers to reduce its weight by 300 grams. The new rules will be effective from January 15, 2018. Currently, the maximum allowed weight is 1.5kg, which will be changed to 1.2kg.  

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The decision is in line with the government's efforts to encourage road safety and reduce road accidents and fatalities, especially in the case of two-wheelers. According to the new order, all branded helmets that will be sold in India from January 15 will have to have a maximum weight of 1200 grams.  

Helmet manufacturers have welcomed the new decision and feel that the decision will help in resolving two major issues and they are increasing in the sale of helmets and safety of the 2-wheeler drivers.  

Reduction in the weight of helmets will not make much difference on the safety concerns as the helmets will be developed by using high-impact materials. Impact points of European standards are taken into consideration while manufacturing the helmets. We will be providing impact point at the chin", says Rajeev Kapur, MD, Steelbird. 

However, the second challenge that the government will have to face is related to counterfeit or low-quality cheap helmets that are being sold in the market. These low-cost helmets are used to save oneself from Traffic Challan. But these uncertified helmets are not safe and can't protect a person during accidents and can claim lives in case of accidents.  

According to the sources, the BIS is planning to include two-wheeler helmets in the list of essential items and the decision will be notified soon. This means only helmets with ISI marks will be available in the market soon.  

The need of the new rules and government's concerns to protect people from road accidents can be analysed by seeing at a data that says road accidents claimed lives of more than 15,000 bikers in 2017 and maximum of these deaths were caused due to unavailability of helmets or poor quality of helmets.  

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Following the same, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways appointed-committee to study various aspects. The committee came out with a set of recommendations that include a reduction in weight by at least 300 grams. BIS direction is based on the recommendation of the committee.