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Motorcycle helmets come in all shapes and sizes, a fact that has not pleased the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NHTSA has updated the motorcycle helmet law in an attempt to prevent riders from wearing improperly certified and novelty helmets. Rather than changing the helmets' construction, the law changes the way they're labeled. This will make it more difficult to mimic Department of Transportation DOT compliance certifications.
Helmets that now conform to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 218 will carry a sticker with the manufacturer's name, the helmet model and the words "DOT FMVSS No. 218 Certified." The move to make helmets safer comes after the number of riders wearing unsafe helmets increased sharply in 2010 over 2009.
NHTSA statistics show that in 2010, only 54 percent of motorcyclists wore a DOT-approved lid. Fourteen percent wore a novelty helmet and 32 percent rode without a helmet. In 2009, those numbers were 67 percent, 9 percent and 24 percent. In 2010, 75 percent of riders wore DOT-compliant helmets and in 2009, 86 percent of them did.
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