A student tries the hi-tech helmet at SNTI exhibition in Jamshedpur on Monday. (Bhola Prasad)

Helmet checking on streets of Jamshedpur would be passé if a unique innovation developed by four young trainees of Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute (SNTI) is adopted by bike and helmet manufacturers.

Aptly named, “Can’t Say No To Helmet” is essentially a circuit that connects the bike and a helmet to make sure the vehicle doesn’t start unless the rider puts on protective headgear.

It uses a radio frequency module — an electronic circuit used to transmit and receive radio signals on a number of carrier frequencies — has three components and costs between Rs 300 and Rs 400.

In a city which saw 448 road accidents in 2012, the SNTI innovation is bound to catch up. No wonder it was the cynosure of all eyes at a three-day technical exhibition on the SNTI premises in Bistupur that ended on Tuesday.

There were 36 other models on display, but Can’t Say No To Helmet grabbed all the eyeballs.

The model has been developed by a four-member team comprising Arindam Roy Choudhary, Prateek Gupta, Tushar Gupta and Shashwat Anand – all management trainees of Tata Steel undertaking training at SNTI.

“We used a radio frequency transmitter, radio frequency receiver and relay circuit to create the model. The radio frequency transmitter is fitted in the helmet while the radio frequency receiver is placed near the seat of the two-wheeler, while the relay circuit is connected to the ignition circuit. When one wears the helmet and locks it, the circuit is completed and the bike can start,” said Prateek Gupta, an alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering.

Sandeep Dhir, chief of employee training and development at SNTI, was all praise for the innovation and said that they would make efforts for patenting it.

“The model, if commercially produced by vehicle manufacturers, would play a key role in ensuring safe driving. It is a praiseworthy initiative and the cost would come further down if it is manufactured on a mass scale,” said Dhir. R.M. Sinha, the deputy superintendent of police (traffic), East Singhbhum, welcomed the initiative and said that such an invention might just make helmet checking drives unnecessary.