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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Safety Agency Cracks Down on Novelty Motorcycle Helmets

OFF THE WIRE
Safety Agency Cracks Down on Novelty Motorcycle Helmets
By JERRY GARRETT

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has revised its labeling for new motorcycle helmets.
The agency said new stickers that read "D.O.T. F.M.V.S.S. No. 218 Certified" would be given to helmets that met federal standards for impact absorption, penetration resistance and strap strength. The labels will also identify the helmet manufacturer and model. The abbreviation refers to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 218 for motorcycle helmets.
A change from the previous stickers, which merely indicated "Department of Transportation," was needed because the labels were too easy to counterfeit, the agency said. N.H.T.S.A. also said that the more sophisticated design of the new stickers would reduce instances of real stickers being affixed to nonapproved helmets.
The agency is concerned about a reported rise in the use of so-called novelty helmets, which are designed to do little more than give a false impression of compliance with helmet use laws. "Such novelty helmets do not meet federal safety requirements," the agency said in a news release this week; the government had tested many of these helmets and found they failed all or most of its safety tests.
According to data from N.H.T.S.A., 54 percent of road riders wore an approved helmet in 2010, down from 67 percent in 2009.
The action follows a report released in April by the Governors Highway Safety Association, which indicated an uptick in motorcyclist fatalities during the second half of 2010. Over all, helmet use also dropped in 2010, relative to 2009.
The change to the new stickers is effective immediately.

Safety Agency Cracks Down on Novelty Motorcycle Helmets

The article is a weak propaganda attempt.  The date of the new NHTSA rules being effective is May, 2013, not 'effective immediately', as the artcles last line states.    
Try reading the entirety of the changes and reasoning behind them. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-05-13/html/2011-11367.htm

The attempt to clarify the regulation has only made FMVSS 218 increasingly vague. 

There is no such thing as a ‘NOVELTY HELMET’!

Never has been.  If your helmet has the infamous DOT symbol, it is a legal helmet.  It does not matter the size, shape or composition…..IT IS A HELMET.

There is no definition anywhere in any Federal or State regulation/law that defines ‘MOTORCYCLE HELMET’, let alone ‘NOVELTY HELMET’! 

The term ‘NOVELTY HELMET’ is safety-cratic, nannie-cratic wording.  It is used in propaganda and smear campaigns.  It is a method used to CONTROL the citizen!!!

WE NEED TO REMOVE ‘BEANIE HELMET’ and ‘NOVELTY HELMET” from our vocabulary………those are their words, not ours.

Donnie 'Mr. Breeze'