Fatal head injuries are declining with helmet use, but there is still a long way to go, say doctors

Getting the right kind of helmet and wearing it properly is important, say doctors. Photograph used for representational purposes only.
| Photo Credit: KVS GIRI

March is observed as Brain Injury Awareness Month. For the past several years now, the police have been penalising two-wheeler riders for not wearing helmets, and, of late, have been coming heavily down on pillion riders as well for.

In Chennai, neurosurgeons say they have seen a significant drop in the number of head injuries they are treating, as well as a reduction in the severity of injuries. But they also add that many injuries that hospitals treat are among persons who have been driving under the influence of alcohol.  

The Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Tamil Nadu’s largest State healthcare facility, sees around five to six cases of brain injury per day now, as against 12 to 14 earlier, says Dean E. Therani Rajan.  

Compliance with regard to wearing helmets may have risen but more clearly needs to be done, say doctors.

M. Balamurugan, senior consultant neurosurgeon at Apollo Hospital, said it was necessary to enforce the ruling for pillion riders to also wear helmets. “We have seen a 50% to 60% drop in head injuries. The severity of the injuries has reduced as well. However, most people involved in accidents are in the 20 to 45 age group, when they are in their most productive phase,” he said.  

K. Selvakumar, senior consultant neurosurgeon at Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre and chairman of telemedicine, said the the severity of injuries has definitely come down. “The number of trauma cases treated at the hospital, however, is almost the same,” he pointed out.  

The hospital now sees people with spinal injuries or long bone injuries, adds the doctor who has been with the hospital for 31 years and a neurosurgeon for 45. It treats patients with fractures and concussion sustained from falls. “We see more facial injuries. Some people wear helmets for the sake of wearing one,” he rues. By purchasing substandard helmets they are only putting themselves at risk, he adds.  

The need for political will

Dr. Selvakumar also points out that enforcement of the helmet rule becomes lax at nightfall, when more people indulge in drunk driving, a menace that has to be curbed. 

Senior neurosurgeon K. Ganapathy who has been advocating safe riding and helmet rules for years now, says political will is needed.  “The single most important point is the helmet may not prevent a head injury, but makes reversible, an irreversible injury. In Singapore, Taiwan and the United States of America the rule is enforced strictly. You have got to be cruel to be kind,” he says.  

Drastic measures such as not dispensing petrol if the rider and the pillion rider are not wearing helmets and cancelling driving licences are necessary, he insists.  “For every death that occurs in a road traffic accident there are at least 50 to 60 people who meet with a [non-fatal] accident,” he adds. “At least 20 to 30 people have residual head injuries, and it takes 2-5 years to recover. It is not about fatality coming down alone,” he says. 

Section 126 of the Motor Vehicle Act must be enforced strictly, Dr. Ganapathy avers.

Measures, as in China, where the law makes it compulsory for a survivor of a road traffic accident who rode without a helmet to spend a week in a head injury ward will help too, he adds.