Illinois Car and Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

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.”