Keep Your Head, Wear Your Helmet Campaign

At the "Keep Your Head" website, interested citizens and communications and resource managers in corporations may access information on road safety and download resources for initiating their own 3-month helmet safety campaigns. The Communi-Kit contains posters, stickers, logos, and wallpaper. These materials highlight, among other things, the effects of head injuries. Messages like "save your head now, or save it for posterity" (accompanied by an image of a brain in a jar) and "helmets ruin my hair" (on a tombstone) are designed to shock people into taking responsibility for their own safety. Detailed instructions and supporting documents are provided to facilitate independent campaign organisation. Corporations can use these tools to conduct a campaign on their company's Intranet. In addition, visitors to the site are encouraged to post messages on the site's forum and to spread the word to friends, family, and policy makers in their town. As part of the effort to disseminate information, booths were set up in the premises of interested corporates and public venues. These booths were designed to encourage managers, for instance, to conduct "safety month" programmes in-house. Physicians have participated by posting advocacy material in their offices and in their employee newsletters.

Other strategies included urging the Bangalore Traffic Police to post 40 signs with the campaign slogan at prominent traffic points in the city, advocacy efforts to persuade helmet manufacturers to support the campaign by producing sturdy helmets, and hosting a three-college music concert featuring a local band. In addition, interactive sessions were held at schools, colleges, and corporations. Stickers and merchandise were distributed, and a joint exercise with the traffic police was conducted.

Road Safety, Health.

Anish Koshy started Friends for Life in April 2002 after an accident in which he says his life was saved because he was wearing a helmet.

Koshy's research shows that, in Bangalore, at least 650 motorcyclists die and 14,000 are injured every year in road accidents. Thirty percent of the casualties were linked to alcohol consumption.

Informal surveys were conducted prior to campaign launch to assess the underlying reasons for resisting helmet use. Some of those interviewed felt that helmets were a hindrance to visibility; others thought helmets were "uncool" or "uncomfortable", while a few worried they would lose hair due to the poor ventilation. The high cost of reliable helmets, lack of awareness about choosing a good helmet, and insufficient support from the city authorities were other challenges associated with the safety campaign.

Koshy intends to expand the campaign to other cities, like Pune, in coming months.