Type

There are hemispherical shaped helmets that are designed to protect the head from the ears up and helmets that cover the entire head from just below the chin line. There are also helmets that look like football helmets.

Outer Shell

The outer shell is designed to absorb most of the impact in an accident, lessening the amount of force that will reach your skull. When considering the geometry of the helmet (sphere-like) any impact will be distributed throughout the helmet. In a perfect sphere, an impact (a force) will be evenly distributed. This is the case in a motorcycle helmet, except we ought to understand that the helmet is not a perfect sphere.

Liner

The next level of protection is found in the liner of the helmet. This unit of protective layer is an impact-absorbing liner. This liner will absorb residual forces not absorbed by the outer shell. While the liner is also shaped like a sphere, forces will be, ideally, distributed evenly. The material of the inner liner is usually made of Styrofoam, a material not as hard and impact resistance as the outer-liner.

Padding

The third section of a helmet is called the comfort padding. It functions as what its name indicates. It provides comfort, mainly. The comfort padding also ensures that the helmet fits snuggly on the head. A loose, or ill fitting helmet will not absorb as much of the forces as a well-fitting, snug helmet.

Retention System

The fourth component of the called the retention system, more commonly referred to as the chin strap. Obvious to many, the chin strap helps to ensure that the helmet stays on your head in the event of a crash. The other elements of the retention system are the devices that attach the chin strap to the helmet. A loose chin strip reduces the effective safety designs of the entire helmet.

DOT

Regardless of the type chosen, make sure that they are rated by the Department of Transportation (DOT). Of the four basic components, the most important element is the outer section of the helmet, called the outer shell. Modern technologies have found plastics and fiber reinforced composites that allow for high strength, light weight outer shells.

The DOT sticker and the Snell Memorial Foundation run thorough tests on motorcycle helmets for:

Impact—The helmet’s shock absorbing capacity
Penetration—The helmet’s ability to withstand the penetration a sharp object
Retention—The ability of the retention system to fastened to the helmet
Peripheral vision—The helmet’s ability to allow side vision of no less than 105 degrees on each side.

Regardless or the style of helmet or how seasoned you are as a motorcyclist (okay, biker) it is important to check your helmet for the safety features designed to protect you from breaking your head.

SAFETY

No doubt, wearing a helmet while operating or riding on a motorcycle is necessary to reduce the probability of death or life-long debilitating injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) studies have determined that deadly accidents are a higher probability when helmets are not worn.

No matter how macho you want to be, wearing a helmet is the thing to do.

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Tens of thousands of motorcyclists are heading to Daytona Beach for Bike Week 2014. Bike “week” is actually ten or more days of festivities in the Northeastern Florida city. How did it all get started and what can you expect? Well hang on for a look at Daytona Bike Week.

The History of Bike Week

Bike week started way back in 1937 with the running of the very first Daytona 200. The 200 is a motorcycle race that took place, in part, on the hard sands just south of Daytona Beach. The first race was won with an average speed of just over 73 miles per hour. Starting times for these early races were based on when the tides allowed them to occur!

Ten years later the race featured almost 200 riders and residents were opening up their homes to the riders and their families. Bike week had quickly become a big party. Today the motorcycle races continue at the Daytona International Speedway. The parties continue as well, and they can be found everywhere throughout the region.

What You’ll Experience

Bike week is part Mardi Gras, St, Patrick’s Day, New Year’s Eve and Halloween… all on two wheels. The roads around Daytona are filled with all types and styles of motorcycles. The central hub of bike week is Main Street just west of the beach. It is here bikers continually “shoot the loop” and jam local bars and temporary tents set up with all type of entertainment and contests.

Bike week features a variety of eclectic events. There is cole slaw wrestling at the Cabbage Patch, a small bar, but very large camping area, just to the southwest of Daytona. The Budweiser Clydesdales parade both at the Speedway and down Main Street. Destination Daytona, a Harley-Davidson dealer in nearby Ormond Beach, hosts many contests and concerts, and Daytona International Speedway is a center of all types of activities and motorcycle races.

If you are heading to Daytona in a car or on a motorcycle between March 7th and March 16th, please make sure you employ defensive driving techniques. Sadly, it seems every year a few bikers will lose their lives on area roadways. Florida does not mandate the use of helmets for motorcyclists, but it is something to consider, especially this time of year. Enjoy Daytona Bike Week but please, do so safely.

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As if they weren’t concerning already, motorcycles are about to reach a whole new level of dangerous. You’ve seen the campaigns, could probably guess the trends off the top of your head and may have even witnessed the effects firsthand. There’s simply no way around it; phones and driving are not just a bad combination, but a deadly one and a pandemic, as recent studies show. The negative effects of texting and driving have now surpassed those of drunk driving. Yet as technology leads the innovative front — always one step ahead of legislation and enforcement — a new player has joined the game.

Could Helmets Be Doing More Harm?

Helmets are supposed to keep the rider safe, though they may actually be hiding an insurmountable danger to cyclists and everyone else on the road. The debate continues on hands-free technology and its distractions to driving, but BikeBandit.com motorcycle helmets and others now come with Bluetooth technology that is raising some major concerns. Think about it: it’s scary enough to envision a rider trying to operate a powerful motorcycle with one hand while finishing a text on the other, but take it one step further to an amplified audio output confined within the hidden realm of a helmet. A rider may be caught off guard by an incoming call, painfully loud ringer or notification, let alone the conscious distraction of simply carrying on conversation while operating their bike. They could even be blaring music! If anyone has to be especially aware of traffic and the sound of approaching vehicles, it should most assuredly be the vulnerable cyclist.

Eyes and Ears On the Road

Without airbags and the added element of a vehicular exoskeleton, a rider’s best friend is his/her focus and awareness to surroundings — namely, the sights and sounds of the road. A rider must not only keep tabs on the surrounding motorists but also their very own proximity and effect on traffic. When a cyclist limits their eyes and ears it is both dangerous and irresponsible. It’s a lose-lose in the fight to make our roads safer. Helmets may protect the skull, but tinted visors limit visibility and this latest update doesn’t offer any resolve. What’s most scary is the fact that we, as drivers, won’t have any idea as to whether or not a motorcyclist is ever on the phone or using the new Bluetooth technology. For all we know, they could be on a call the entire time we’re next to them. This possibility is alarming and quite insulting to the push for hands-free alternatives.

What About Enforcement?

Furthermore, who’s to say how police officers will be able to distinguish whether riders are on or off the phone? It’s all concealed in that object that was supposed to make riding a motorcycle a tad bit safer. The choice will ultimately come down to the user, regardless of the law. We’ve seen this trend already, with drivers who constantly combat or flat out ignore the dangers, day to day, and continue their phone usage behind the wheel. Just because technology complies with legislation and the written rules of the road does not necessarily mean it is a sound or responsible integration.

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Specifically, one rider was killed and another seriously injured during a police chase when the police cruiser collided with the bike.

These illegal motorcycles are actually unlicensed dirt bikes ridden on private and public property; wherever drivers can find room to go full throttle and get their kicks. Unfortunately, it is not safe and these unlicensed bikes have already caused a number of injuries to pedestrians and at least one death, not counting the rider who was killed during the police chase.

Motorcycles are a lot of fun and riding dirt bikes in particular can be a great weekend experience. But there simply is no excuse for riding an illegal bike and/or doing so in a manner which endangers your life or the life of someone else.

Police in New York have been trying for months to get the new fad of riding illegal dirt bikes under control, but so far the packs of riders continues to grow. Last weekend, when the first innocent pedestrian was killed by an out-of-control dirt bike, more than 30 of these illegal bikers had gathered in Hunts Point to ride and delight in flaunting not only the law, but their responsibility to be safe.

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Unfortunately, all this outdoor, non-automobile activity has its downside as state officials have noted a severe increase in the number of deaths of motorcycle riders and pedestrians this year. Although 2011 the state posted its lowest level in nearly four decades the upswing in deaths has some state safety advocates wondering if it signals a terrible new trend upward.

The Nebraska Office of Highway Safety says there is no need to worry, however. They said that mild weather this past summer meant more people were hitting the roads on motorcycles, more people were out walking or running on roadways. This increase in activity meant more chances for an accident. They also attribute the increase in fatalities to a failure on the part of this same group to practice safety when out on the roads, regardless of what they might be doing there. Alcohol was a factor in many of the deadly crashes as was a failure to wear proper safety gear such as brightly lit or reflective clothing for pedestrians.

In Iowa, 248 people had died as of Friday compared with 222 at the same point last year. For all of 2011, Iowa recorded its lowest number of traffic deaths — 364 — since 1944.

Through the end of August, the Hawkeye State had 42 motorcycle deaths compared with 28 at the same point last year. Ten pedestrians had died compared with 11 in all of last year.

While Iowa’s road fatalities have gone up this year, they are comparable with the state’s traffic deaths from 2006 through 2010.

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You might think that flooded roadways would be their own caution sign, prompting motorists to find some other way to their destination. Unfortunately, not only will some drivers ignore the flooded roadway, they will also often drive around temporary barricades erected by police to keep them from driving on those streets.

At issue is not simply the safety of the motorist but also the costs of rescuing them if they become stuck these cost can fluctuate, but in most cases cost somewhere between $2,000 to $50,000 for a total rescue of vehicle plus occupants. That means, just because somebody decides not to use common sense and defy a police ordered barricade, the police and fire and rescue units must incur the costs to rescue them from their own stupidity.

Arizona thinks that’s a bad idea, and that’s why their law states:

“A driver of a vehicle who drives the vehicle on a public street or highway that is temporarily covered by a rise in water level, including groundwater or overflow of water, and that is barricaded because of flooding is liable for the expenses of any emergency response that is required to remove from the public street or highway the driver or any passenger in the vehicle that becomes inoperable on the public street or highway or the vehicle that becomes inoperable on the public street or highway, or both.”

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Texas Department of Transportation said almost half of all these crashes occurred at intersections and involved a car or truck. This makes the new warnings, permanent signs being installed at Allstate’s expense, all the more important to Texas and the people who live and ride there.

May is National Motorcycle Awareness Month and a nationwide effort to focus attention on motorcycle safety has been underway in every state. With the price of gasoline rising nearly every week more and more Americans are turning to two-wheeled, more economical forms of transportation. More bikes on the road means more chances for serious, often deadly collisions.

And anything that cane be done to make those numbers go down is worth the effort.

Allstate Insurance Co. is putting up permanent signs in more than 30 cities in hopes of preventing crashes at major intersections. The company posted a sign at East Main and 14th streets in Grand Prairie.

Dallas County had almost 600 accidents involving motorcycles in 2010, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Thirty-five percent occurred at intersections.

“Motorcyclists are easily overlooked,” said Dusty Wallace, an Allstate agent in Flower Mound. “It is always a safety concern, because generally when you’re driving, you’re not thinking about a motorcycle, you’re thinking about another vehicle out there.”

Wallace, who rides motorcycles, said he constantly has to be on a lookout when he is on the road. Motorcyclists always have to think ahead and be aware of things in the road that cars run over or drivers running red lights.

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When the weather starts to warm up people who ride motorcycles take it as a sign to get their bike out of the garage and go for a ride. Unfortunately, while they are fun, motorcycles also offer less protection than a car or truck so their riders face a greater risk of injury in the event of a crash. When you couple this with the fact some drivers fail to even notice motorcycles because of their size, it is a recipe for disaster.

Texas Department of Public safety is trying to change all that with a public service campaign aimed squarely at drivers.

The statistics regarding crashes involving motorcycles are shocking: number of motorcyclists killed annually since 2000 has more than doubled, from 196 in 2000 to 472 in 2011. The 472 motorcycle drivers and passengers who lost their lives in Texas accounted for 16 percent of traffic deaths in the state. Eighty-seven percent of motorcycle crashes result in death or injury of the motorcyclist. The number of motorcycles on Texas roadways has more than doubled in the last decade.

Hopefully the Texas Department of Public Safety can help turn the tide of motorcycle crashes.

“Motorcyclists face unique safety challenges on Texas roads because they are smaller, more difficult to see and less protected than cars and trucks,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw. “Motorcyclists can protect themselves on the road by obeying traffic laws and wearing their helmets. Motorists can help by looking twice for motorcycles and giving them additional space.”

DPS recommends all drivers “Share the Road” and “Look Twice” for motorcycles, which are public awareness campaigns that highlight motorcycle safety. Motorists should take caution, especially at intersections and when changing lanes – the two places where serious motorcycle collisions occur. Half of all fatal motorcycle crashes in Texas occur because the car or truck driver never saw the motorcyclist.

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In fact, it’s called the Stiffer Penalties Bill, and it’s no joke. Florida legislators recognize that their state’s abundance of sunshine and good weather attract a large number of motorcycling enthusiasts. Mix an abundance of motorcyclists with an abundance of out-of-state drivers you get the perfect storm of serious vehicle crashes.

Florida Senate Bill 1754 increases criminal penalties for a driver who causes serious bodily injury or death to a motorcyclist. In part the bill says that causing serious bodily injury translates to a second degree misdemeanor, and includes paying a fine, incarceration, and a loss of license.

The bill does more than protect motorcyclists, however. It extends to bicyclists and pedestrians as well, making any vehicle crash that causes death to someone walking or riding any kind of bike a much more serious offense with much more severe penalties.

If the bill is approved, which seems likely given it has the support of multiple motorcycling and bicycling groups, it would go into effect on July 1 of this year.

In the meantime anyone who drives the streets in Florida should be aware that they share the roads with people who are not riding in two-ton steel and plastic vehicles with seat belts and air bags. In fact, some riders have nothing but a pair of leather pants to protect them and just because your vehicle is bigger and tougher doesn’t give you the right to run into them, crowd them, cut them off or endanger their lives.

There is plenty of room on the road ways for everyone. And if your vehicle is bigger that makes it all more important that you yield even if you have the right of way and drive with caution and care at all times.

Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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