Make sure you have the best protection for your head

By Réhann Coetzee

 

There is an old saying that advises if you have a $50 head, you can buy a $50 helmet. But is an expensive helmet necessarily safer than one that costs less?

All helmets imported into South Africa have to comply with the ECE 22.05 standard. The Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) has a number of regulations and number 22.05 is specifically aimed at the approval of crash helmets. Helmets have to pass a number of stringent tests before they can be certified.

Some of these tests include impact absorption, rigidity, the retention system (the chin strap), resistance to solvents, high and low temperatures, moisture, UV radiation, projections and surface friction – and a drop test (where the helmet must reach a speed of 8,5m/s – or 30,6km/h). So, we can be reasonably sure that helmets sold in South Africa are safe enough.

But there are other safety reference sites that you can look at too. The British government supports the Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme – SHARP.

The SHARP website  says it “provides advice on how to select a helmet that fits correctly and is comfortable and information about the relative safety of helmets to help motorcyclists to make an informed choice”.

The website advises you to try on as many as helmets possible that are in your price range. Once you have a few that fit correctly and are comfortable, select one with a high SHARP safety rating.

SHARP rates helmets with stars and they have a handy search function on their website where you can look for your helmet and see how it rates. I used it and could see that my all-time favourite road helmet, the Shoei XR1100, scored a perfect five stars.

The SHARP website says the most important thing about choosing a helmet is not the brand or the way it looks: “The secret to providing yourself better head protection is in getting the right fit.”

They propose four steps to getting the right fit:

1. Get measured. Don’t guess the size of your head, measure it around your head just above your ears. This measurement will guide you to choosing the right size.
2. Try it on. Place the helmet firmly on your head and secure the chin strap so that you can fit two fingers between the helmet and your jaw. If the fit is a good one, you should be able to feel the helmet against your whole head – not just on a few pressure points. Keep it on for a few minutes to make sure it is comfortable.
3. Check the fit. With the chin strap secured, try to move the helmet on your head. Your cheeks should follow the helmet’s movement, while remaining in contact with the cheek pads firmly and comfortably. If the helmet moves or slips on your head it’s probably the wrong size. Tilt the helmet forwards and backwards. If it moves or slips, it is most likely too large for your head.
4. Will it stay on? Your helmet must not come off your head in an accident or a fall. With the chin strap properly fastened, get someone to try and take the helmet off your head by pushing the helmet from its base at the rear. If it comes off with this test, it will definitely not stay in place in an accident either.

The next time that you start looking at a replacement for your helmet, make the SHARP website (https://sharp.dft.gov.uk) your first stop to research a properly rated helmet.

You can have a look at the ECE standard here:

To make sure if your crash helmet has been homologated for distribution in South Africa, have a look at this list: /NRCS%20HOMOLOGATED%20MOTORCYCLE%20HELMETS%20WEBSITE%20%202018.pdf