Laws and Standards
Motorcycle helmets greatly reduce injuries and fatalities in motorcycle accidents, thus many countries have laws requiring acceptable helmets to be worn by motorcycle riders. These laws vary considerably, often exempting mopeds and other small-displacement bikes. In some countries, most notably the USA and India, there is some opposition to compulsory helmet use (see Helmet Law Defense League); not all USA states have a compulsory helmet law.
Worldwide, many countries have defined their own sets of standards that are used to judge the effectiveness of a motorcycle helmet in an accident, and define the minimal acceptable standard thereof. Among them are:
- ACU (Auto-Cycle Union) Gold or Silver badge
- AS/NZS 1698:2006 (Australia and New Zealand)
- BSI (British Standards Institute) 6658
- CSA CAN3-D230-M85 (Canada. they no longer certify motorcycle helmets)
- DOT FMVSS 218 (USA)
- GOST R 41.22-2001 (ГОСТ Р 41.22-2001) (Russia) (based on ECE 22.05)
- NBR 7471 (Brazil)
- IS 4151 (India)
- JIS T 8133:2000 (Japan)
- Snell M 2005 "2005 Helmet Standard For Use in Motorcycling"
- SNI (Indonesia)
- SHARP (UK) - Star Rating
- CRASH (Australia) - Star Rating
- ECE Regulation 22 (Europe) (2001)
- TCVN 5756:2001 (test and certify by QUATEST 3) (Vietnam)
The Snell Memorial Foundation has developed stricter requirements and testing procedures for motorcycle helmets with racing in mind, as well as helmets for other activities (e.g. drag racing, bicycling, horseback riding), and many riders in North America consider Snell certification a benefit when considering buying a helmet while others note that its standards allow for more force (g's) to be transferred to a rider's head than the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) standard. However, the DOT standard does not test the chin bar of helmets with them, while the Snell (and ECE) standards do.
In the United Kingdom, many riders choose helmets bearing an Auto-Cycle Union (ACU) Gold sticker as it defines a stricter standard than the legal minimum ECE 22.05 specification. Helmets with an ACU Gold sticker are the only ones allowed to be worn in competition, or at track days.
Read more about this topic: Motorcycle Helmet
Famous quotes containing the words laws and/or standards:
“Nearest to all things is that power which fashions their being. Next to us the grandest laws are constantly being executed. Next to us is not the workman whom we have hired, with whom we love so well to talk, but the workman whose work we are.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Chief among our gains must be reckoned this possibility of choice, the recognition of many possible ways of life, where other civilizations have recognized only one. Where other civilizations give a satisfactory outlet to only one temperamental type, be he mystic or soldier, business man or artist, a civilization in which there are many standards offers a possibility of satisfactory adjustment to individuals of many different temperamental types, of diverse gifts and varying interests.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)