Voluntary and mandatory motorcycle helmet standards

Freiwillige und gesetzlich vorgeschriebene Pruefungsstandards von Motorradhelmen

Helmet technology has improved considerably since 1968 but many motorcycle helmets have not. The current United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 218 also known as the DOT motorcycle helmet standard makes virtually the same demands for helmet performance as the 1968 American Standards Institute’s Motor Vehicle Helmet Standard. Yet even the DOT standard demands more protection from severe impact than the current UNECE R 22-05 requirement. The paper will explore the inadequacies of DOT and ECE 22-05 and compare their demands for protective capability to voluntary standards for motorcycle helmets as well as current standards for auto racing helmets and bicycle helmets. It will be seen that much more protective capability can be demanded of motorcycle helmets with no appreciable differences in cost, comfort and utility. Test results for various helmets tested to the several standards show that inadequacies in the standard to which a helmet is built become inadequacies in the helmet itself. It is possible for a voluntary standards organization to advance helmetry in the absence of any mandatory standard but where government standards exist, they must be maintained and improved, if not to advance the development of better helmets, then at least not to retard it unduly. (A)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9783923994205
• Corporate Authors:

  Institut fuer Zweiradsicherheit (ifz) e.V., Essen (DEU)

  Gladbecker Strasse 425
  Essen,   Germany  45329
• Authors:
  • BECKER, E B
• Publication Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 424-39
• Monograph Title: Sicherheit - Umwelt - Zukunft. Tagungsband der 9. Internationalen Motorradkonferenz 2012, 1. und 2. Oktober 2012, Koeln
• Serial:
  • Forschungshefte Zweiradsicherheit
  • Issue Number: 15
  • Publisher: Institut fuer Zweiradsicherheit (ifz) e.V.

Subject/Index Terms

• ITRD Terms: 8525: Conference; 1687: Crash helmet; 5911: Efficiency; 8125: Germany; 1752: Motorcyclist; 187: Specification (standard); 6288: Test method; 1585: Vehicle regulations
• Subject Areas: I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01532859
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt)
• ISBN: 978-3-923994-20-5
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Aug 7 2014 9:12AM