Biker, Head Wrap

A motorcycle helmet is a type of protective headgear used by motorcycle riders. more...

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The primary goal of a motorcycle helmet is motorcycle safety - to protect the rider's head during impact, although many helmets provide additional conveniences, such as face shields, ear protection, intercom etc.

Laws and standards

Motorcycle helmets are generally believed to 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. As with seat belt legislation the actual effects of imposing helmet wearing are a matter of dispute with evidence available indicating a risk compensation effect. In some countries, most notably the USA, there is significant popular opposition to compulsory helmet use, based on these safety and also philosophical objections (see Helmet law defense league).

Worldwide, many developed 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:

AS 1698 (Australia); CSA CAN3-D230-M85 (Canada); JIS T8133 (Japan); NZ 5430 (New Zealand); ECE 2205 (Europe); BS 6658 (UK); DOT FMVSS 218 (USA);

Of the above standards, the DOT standard is by far the most lax. 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 that its standards allow for more force (g's) to be transferred to a rider's head than the DOT standard. A motorcycle helmet with either standard will nonetheless provide vastly more protection than one with neither.

Most motorcycle helmet standards use impacts at speeds between 4 and 7 m/s. At first glance, this is confusing given that motorcyclists frequently ride at speeds of 20 or 30 m/s. This confusion is relieved by understanding that the perpendicular impact speed of the helmet is usually not the same as the road speed of the motor cycle and that the severity of the impact is determined not only by the speed of the head but also by the nature of the surface it hits. For example, the surface of the road is almost parallel to the direction the motorcyclist moves in so only a small component of his velocity is directed perpendicular to the road while he is riding. Of course, other surfaces are perpendicular to the motorcylist's velocity, such as trees, walls and the sides of other vehicles. The other vital factor in determining the severity of an impact is the nature of the surface struck. The sheet metal wall of a car door may bend inwards to a depth of 7.5 - 10 cm (3 - 4 inches) during a helmeted head impact, meaning that it generates more stopping distance for the rider's head than the helmet itself. So a perpendicular impact against a flat steel anvil at 5 m/s might be about as severe as a 30 m/s oblique impact against a concrete surface or a 30 m/s perpendicular impact against a sheet metal car door or windscreen. Overall, there is a very wide range of severity in the impacts that could conceivably happen in a motorcycle impact. Some of these are more severe than the impacts used in the standard tests and some are less so.

Read more at Wikipedia.org