At a helmet distribution drive at a school in Chennai
Recently, 48 students of Kesari Higher Secondary School in T. Nagar and their parents received free helmets. When this initiative kickstarted at the beginning of the academic year, 15,000 helmets had to be given away. The stock has dwindled hugely, which is commendable; every helmet cleared off the shelf is a safety measure in place for an individual.
Road Guru Trust, a non-profit committed to improving road safety in Chennai is distributing these helmets provided by ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company as part of its corporate social responsibility.
K.P. Sendil Kumar, who runs Road Guru Trust, explains: “In June, I attended this national summit on ‘VRU’s and Road Safety’ organised by NGO TRAX Road Safety and Central Road Research Institute in New Delhi. Under the CSR programme ‘Ride to Safety’, the company has been giving away helmets for the last seven years, focusing on one metropolitan city every year. Chennai was their focus for 2025 and I happened to be the only person from the state at the summit, so I volunteered to drive the distribution.” Sendil, 58 years old, has retired from a multinational company.
The campaign resonated with Sendil for many reasons including the fact that his Trust promoted road safety through education and awareness programmes.
The highlight of this initiative is the equal focus on distributing junior helmets. It therefore serves as a silent but effective advocacy for children’s helmets, largely ignored because many parents are unaware of their availability.
“Most children dropped at schools by their parents in a two-wheeler do not wear a helmet. In fact, many do not buy one for their children. So this campaign was unique as it targeted both parents and children, each nudging the other to wear an ISI helmet while driving,” says Sendil.
The Trust received close to 15,000 helmets for distribution. Since June, Sendil has been reaching out to government and less-privileged institutions asking school heads to identify students who would need them the most.
This turned out to be the most challenging task for the Trust. “We reached out to 170 schools in Chennai and only 60 got back to us with a list of names,” says Sendil.
The next task for the Trust was conducting a session at the schools for students about road safety and the importance of wearing a proper headgear, before giving them a helmet.
“My sessions are made interactive and engaging with stories and live examples,” he says.
The Trust has 15 more schools to cover. The number of helmets distributed in a school ranges between 24 and 270, and they are only given to students from classes IV to VIII, given the size of the helmets.
Sendil is grateful to a few school heads who helped spread the word. The headmaster of Chennai Public School in Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar contacted other GCC schools. Likewise, principal of Anjum Higher Secondary School in West the Mambalam collected details of 15 educational institutions and got a list ready.
Volunteer for road safety
K.P. Sendil Kumar’s longstanding desire was to wear the police uniform and he fulfilled that by becoming a member of Tamil Nadu Traffic Warden Organisation in 2011. “Various statistics on road accidents was the trigger for me to do something more on road safety,” says Sendil Kumar. In 2015, Road Guru Trust was registered and works on a lean team mainly volunteers from Rotaract clubs. “We conduct awareness campaigns at schools and apartment complexes,” says Sendil, adding that they invite volunteers to join them in efforts to make city roads safe.
For details, visit https://roadguru.org
Published – December 20, 2025 09:31 am IST
