Is your helmet up to the job of protecting your head?
Helmet Amnesty aims to boost safety for British riders
Your helmet is the most important piece of kit in your biking armoury but according to recent research, a worrying 41% of us are wearing lids that might not be up to the job. A survey of more than 1000 riders by insurance giant Carole Nash revealed that four out of every ten are using a lid that’s five years old or older, which exceeds the recommended service life. The study also indicated that 63% wouldn’t consider buying a new lid unless the old one had been in a crash. In response, MCN have launched a Helmet Amnesty.
If your lid is more than five years old, scuffed, damaged, ill-fitting or maybe even a little dubious in terms of legality, register online at www.helmetamnesty.com and surrender your the offending item at the Carole Nash MCN London Show from Feb 14-16. You’ll receive a voucher for a free Oxford Helmet Care Kit worth £19.99 or Lidsack worth £14.99, then you can wander the show to bag a brand new, expertly fitted, and - most importantly – safe lid at a bargain price.
Why age matters…
Manufacturers and independent safety bodies agree that after five years’ use the materials and resins used in a helmet start to break down, reducing protection. The plastic or composite outer shell can be made brittle by UV and pollutants. Meanwhile, the energy-absorbing inner foam EPS is broken down by continuous exposure to sweat, skin debris and oils from your scalp, as well as other contaminates such as petrol, which can find their way inside your lid if you’ve a habit of storing your gloves there.
Keeping things legal
Lids are the only piece of protective kit that’s compulsory in the UK so have to be tested to European safety standard ECE 22.05. To be road legal, a lid must have a white label sewn onto the chin strap featuring an E-mark and a number which indicates where the testing took place. Fake lids can be purchased directly from the Far East via internet auction sites and often won’t be approved to ECE 22.05. American DOT-rated helmets, unless they also feature the ECE 22.05 E mark, are not road legal in the UK, either.
My lid’s a bit loose, it’ll still work, right?
Wrong. A study of accidents across Europe revealed that 12% of helmets were separated from the rider’s head in an impact. It goes without saying that a helmet needs to stay on your head in order to protect it.
You should be able to feel the helmet against the whole of your head. There should be enough pressure on your cheeks so that they remain in contact with the cheekpads and follow the motion of the lid when it is rotated from side to side. The helmet should not move on your head when it’s tipped forward or backward. If your lid’s too big, get yourself along to the Carole Nash MCN London Show in February, bin it at the Helmet Amnesty then get professionally fitted up with a new lid at a great price while you are visiting the event.