...
b e p oliced by the S.H .C .A.
The S.H.C.A. co nd uc ts ra ndom
8: samp ling o f helmets by buying th em off
N
th e shelf aroun d th e country a nd test in g
the en tire
Z90
:;; th e
h elm et t o
specification. If your h elm e t has this
N sticker. you can b e fa irly certain th at
~ you h ave a h elm et that exceeds the Z90
..!!l standards. The S.H.C.A . st andar d s are
rigid and each sticker carries its . ow n
~ serial number so that the council can
~ trace to th e exact tim e the h elme t was
w made and what batch it came from.
:g,
13 A MER ICAN
~
WHA T
ASSOCIATION?
Just about every helmet you will ever
see has a little round k \ 1A "Group I "
sticker in it . It will say that this helme t
is approved for competition by the
AMA . We d on ' t know just what tests
the AlVlA cond ucted when th ey were
issu ing this stic ker, b u t th e AMA does
no t t est h elm ets anymo re . They have
d o ne away with any specifications for
approving h elm ets under th e " Group I "
label. The AMA w ill b e using th e
S.H .C. A. st ic ker for th e ap proval of
helmets in th e fu tu re , since th is sticker
carries a serial' n umber b y which th ey
can trace where the helmet came from
and if a racer h as a hard fa ll, they can
chec k t o see if h e has rep laced his
h elm et . T he AMA "Group I " stick er is
m e aningless.
Manufacturer
n ow
co n tin ue to use it, h owever, perh ap s in
th e h op e that b uyers will confus e it
with American Medical Association
ap p roval.
For Canadian riders th ere is the CSA
CSA
eight years ago any helm e t y o u were
likely to buy offere d o nly protection
aga inst th e we ather, a lmost every
helmet offers fai rly good protec ti on
n ow . Few of them will probably save
you if th e h elmet makes d irec t contact
with a t ele phone p ol e, curb, wall or
au to mobile a t any speed over 15 mil es
per hour, with your head insi de.
If you're going to use th e helmet o n a
bike that will n o t exceed 15 m ph th e
Z90 sticker will p rob abl y b e enough. If
you're going to travel at high speeds
(over 15 m ph) or race, you need, at th e
very minimum, the yellow S.H.C.A.
sticker or the Snell Fo undation sticker.
By the way , the Snell Foundation also
co nducts random sam pling of h elm ets
th a t carry th eir sticker. If the helmet
has none of th ese stickers, you better be
a very good frie n d of th e manufacturer
so tha t you k now just wh at precautions
h e takes when h e makes your h elm e t, or
you better h ave several th ousand dollars
to tie up in tes ting equip ment.
~6rkr
