Personal Injury Law

Sorting Out Differences in Helmet Standards

By Hurley, McKenna & Murtz

As a personal injury lawyer, I fully support clarifying helmet standards, as discussed in a recent New York Times article. Dexter Ford reports, ?the surest way for motorcycle riders to avoid joining the rapidly growing ranks of fatality statistics ? up 144 percent since 1997, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ? is to wear proper head protection. A helmet increases the chances of survival in an accident by 37 percent, the safety agency says? (9/27).

However, Different safety certifications on helmets contribute to confusion among helmet shoppers. All helmets sold in the United States for road use must have the stamp of federal safety standard ? a Transportation Department certification. However, often helmets have an additional certification label from the Snell Memorial Foundation ? a non-profit research and testing organization that is financed by helmet makers.

Snell certification is mandatory for some racing communities, which leads consumers to assume Snell certified helmets are safer ? an assumption that is widely disputed. Many, including head injury specialists say, ?they are concerned that the ?premium protection" proffered by current Snell-certified helmets may not be better after all. They argue that current Snell-rated helmets are too rigid and unyielding to properly absorb impact energy in the great majority of motorcycle crashes, subjecting riders to preventable brain injuries.?

Full post as published by Illinois Car and Truck Accident Lawyer Blog on September 28, 2009 (boomark / email).