A New Helmet Standard

A NEW HELMET STANDARD

Anyone who's ever strapped on a brain bucket is familiar with DOT and Snell. Well, helmet buyers will soon be seeing another certification sticker, a blue one bearing the initials of the British Standards Institute.

So far, only Italian maker Suomy is importing helmets that meet the BS6658 Type A standard, which U.S. distributor Rick Marlin claims is based on the most thorough testing yet. Helmet-makers can certify themselves as complying with DOT standards (after which they may be subject to NHTSA spot checks) and Snell awards stickers based on successful tests of a small sampling of production (up to 2 percent, though seldom are that many tested). BSI, on the other hand, tests a percentage of each batch of helmets (500-2000 helmets constitute a batch, in Suomy’s case), and if any helmet fails, the entire batch is rejected. Furthermore, the BSI standard is said to strike a best-of-both-worlds compromise, offering the low-impact protection of the street-biased DOT standard as well as the

high-impact protection of the racing-biased Snell standard. In fact, the AMA and FIM have deemed BSI-approved helmets legal for competition use.

The blue stickers might not be here to stay, however, as the European Union is developing yet another standard, EC2205, that will likely receive global approval in the years to come. Stay tuned. -Brian Catterson