VietNamNet Bridge - A high school student in Hue City who wants to help minimize traffic accidents caused by drunk people has invented a smart helmet. 

Khoa witnessed many traffic accidents in his childhood which resulted in deaths and injuries. 

After reading documents about equipment which can help reduce traffic accidents and analyze the police’s alcohol concentration gauge, Khoa decided to make a smart helmet.

He designed the helmet with major units – the alcohol concentration sensor, wave receiver (RS), sensor modules and circuit board that links the helmet with motorbike.

Khoa said it was a long path from the idea to implementation. It took Khoa time to assemble the helmet based on the design, though he was assisted by Mai Khac Dung, his physics teacher and the brother who is now a student of the Hue City University of Science.

If motorbike driver only drinks a small volume of alcohol before, which means the alcohol concentration still does not exceed the threshold, he will have to drive more slowly.

After two months, Khoa succeeded in connecting circuits on electricity board. Then he had to connect the power unit with a motorbike’s battery which allows it to break switch when the helmets discovers that motorbike driver has high alcohol concentration.

“Assembling electricity circuits proved to be the most difficult work. Small chips sometimes broke down,” he said.

But he finally succeeded. The helmet was created with the total accessories cost of VND500,000 only.

The operation principle of the helmet is simple. When a drunk person tries to drive motorbike and puts the helmet on, the sensor unit attached to the helmet will send a signal which will automatically break the circuit linked with the motorbike’s battery. If so, the motorbike will not be able to start.

If motorbike driver only drinks a small volume of alcohol before, which means the alcohol concentration still does not exceed the threshold, he will have to drive more slowly. The speed sensor unit will prevent him from driving at a speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour.

If the alcohol concentration exceeds the threshold, the driver won’t be able to start the motorbike. 

Meanwhile, the GPS (global positioning system) attached to the helmet will send messages to the driver’s relatives, so that the relatives can come to help. The driver will be warned not to drive motorbikes. The rear lights will be turned on to alert people nearby.

Khoa’s helmet has many additional useful functions. The GPS attached can help protect the helmet from being stolen

Kham Pha