Bike-Helmet Standards Appear Unlikely

Mandatory federal standards on bicycle helmets do not exist, and, despite calls for regulation, federal experts expect to recommend against setting any.

“As far as we’re aware, there is no data whatsoever to show that helmets do not perform their safety functions,” said Judith M. Pitcher, director of the division of program analysis of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The recommendation may go to the commission in May, she said.

The CPSC had voted in May, 1990, to examine whether the current system was adequate. The Consumer Federation of America (CFA), on behalf of a coalition of some 35 medical, safety and bicycle groups, had called for a mandatory standard.

Since Jan. 1, the CPSC has required manufacturers to report failure to comply with voluntary standards, said spokesman Ken Giles. Failure to comply with a voluntary standard would not necessarily lead to a recall, Giles said. Under a mandatory standard, recall is automatic, he said.

The CFA petition followed a Consumer Reports magazine article that found some strapped-on helmets could be pulled off a rider’s head, indicating they could come loose in an accident.

“We’re disappointed that the staff would recommend that,” said Mary Ellen Fise, the CFA’s product safety director. “We need to make sure helmets adequately protect riders’ heads.”

Fise said she hopes the commission will override the staff recommendations, when they are formally issued, and order a uniform mandatory standard.

However, for the CPSC to set a standard, it must find that a type of product has an unreasonable risk of injury and that voluntary standards can’t make the products safe, Pitcher said.

“We can’t make the finding that the helmets pose an unreasonable risk,” she said, citing an incident in which her 23-year-old daughter was pitched on her head when she was hit by a cab recently. She was wearing a helmet and suffered no head injuries, Pitcher said. The helmet was her Christmas gift to her daughter.

Head injuries from cycling are almost always because people didn’t wear helmets, Pitcher said.

Studies show helmets can reduce head injuries by up to 95%, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Head injuries account for about 75% of the 1,200 bicyclist deaths a year, it says.

The NHTSA recommends that cyclists use helmets meeting the standards of one of two voluntary testing organizations, the Snell Memorial Foundation and the American National Standards Institute. Snell specializes in helmets; ANSI sets standards for various products.

Specialty committees periodically review and upgrade both; the latest Snell standard dates from 1990, and the ANSI standard is under revision.