Development of a Smart Helmet with Head Impact Detection and Emergency Alert for Motorcycle Riders in Niger State

Road traffic injuries involving commercial and private motorcycle riders are among the leading causes of trauma admissions at general hospitals in Niger State, North Central Nigeria, with head injuries constituting the most fatal category. This project presents the development of a smart motorcycle helmet equipped with an accelerometer-based impact detection system and an automatic emergency alert mechanism. An MPU-6050 inertial measurement unit mounted inside the helmet detects impact events by comparing instantaneous acceleration magnitude against a validated crash-severity threshold. An Arduino Nano microcontroller processes the IMU data and, upon detection of a crash event exceeding the threshold, triggers a SIM800L GSM module to send an SMS containing the rider's name, a distress message, and a live GPS location link to pre-registered emergency contacts and the nearest hospital number. A helmet-wear detection circuit using a contact switch at the chin strap ensures the alert system is only armed when the helmet is being worn. Fifteen simulated crash events were replicated using a drop-test rig calibrated to impact severity levels corresponding to low, medium, and high crash categories. Impact detection accuracy was 100 percent for high-severity impacts and 87 percent for medium-severity, with two false positives occurring during rough-road vibration simulation. A questionnaire survey of 100 commercial motorcycle riders in Minna showed 78 percent were willing to pay up to 8,000 Naira above the cost of a standard helmet for the smart safety feature. Keywords: smart helmet, impact detection, emergency alert, motorcycle safety, Niger State