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, laws and/or standards:
“Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.”
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“The things a man has to have are hope and confidence in himself against odds, and sometimes he needs somebody, his pal or his mother or his wife or God, to give him that confidence. He’s got to have some inner standards worth fighting for or there won’t be any way to bring him into conflict. And he must be ready to choose death before dishonor without making too much song and dance about it. That’s all there is to it.”
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