Well, all I can hear is Walter in the Big Lebowski asking the Dude, Am I wrong? Am I wrong? But I have to ask, when is a helmet NOT a helmet?

I know that Motoress is an awesome site, dedicated to promote motorcycling for women and I am a fan and supporter, however I had to take pause at this post presenting a new concept helmet for women. This helmet is designed for all “stylish” women but particularly those women that choose no helmet for whatever reason. In that case this is likely better than none. Ok…not a bad idea over NO helmet, as anyone who rides knows the odds of surviving an at speed fall with no helmet is quite minute.

For those that haven’t seen this chart presenting the areas of distribution of impact on a motorcycle helmet in a collision, I am reposting as I believe it is important.

If this chart is studied you will see that the area with the most chance of impact is the chin, and many of the helmets out there do not have any sort of jawline protection, the concept helmet above included.

I would like to think that all people have enough common sense to understand the concept of managing risk. Managing your risk while riding a motorcycle is greatly improved by wearing a helmet to protect the brain. That helmet needs to have a safely standard administered to it in the form of a DOT certification, Snell certification or an EU rating. Helmets without these certifications are not safe. There are many helmet wearers out there that are using only the minimum of protection, some with no safety certification. Many of these riders are putting themselves at risk, which is a personal choice, however in the end it affects my insurance rates with the upswing of more riders on the roadways and more accidents.

I don’t mean to belabor a point, but if wearing a helmet can save you in an accident, so why do so many people choose to ride without one? And why would a designer create yet another unsafe helmet, just to make a style statement? Am I wrong??