Safety vs security

Why motorcyclists need full-face helmets:

by Naalir Jamaldeen

Nearly 50 percent road accident admissions to the Accident Ward of the Colombo National Hospital is due to motorcycle accidents.

The vehicles most vulnerable to accidents are motorcycles and three-wheelers. Motorcycle accident admissions are high compared to other vehicle accidents, Accident Ward Director, Colombo National Hospital, Dr. Kapila Wickramanayake told the Sunday Observer.

Following awareness programs for motorcyclists by the relevant authorities, the use of helmets has increased in the recent past and the damage caused to the head owing to accidents have decreased, Dr. Wickramanayake said.

Nearly 11 percent of motorcycle accident admissions to the accident ward was due to not wearing helmets while riding, Dr. Wickramanayake said.

He said that mainly head, brain, skull and face are injured or damaged when a motorcycle accident occurs. Injury risk is four times higher when riding motorcycle without a helmet.

A survey conducted at international level has shown that full face helmet is safer than the normal helmet. By wearing full face helmets the damages caused to the face, facial bones and the jaws can be reduced, Dr. Wickramanayake said.

When he was asked whether the risk to the jaw was high in an accident while wearing wearing full face helmets, Dr. Wickramanayake said he did not know of such incidents so far.

Criticism levelled against wearing full face helmet on the grounds that visibility is low has not been proved yet.

The full face helmet provides huge safety for a person and protects head, face, skull and brain from being injured. Wearing helmets while riding motorcycle will give protection to the life as well, he said.

The motorcycle clubs and riders staged a protest at Galle Face on March 19 against the prohibition of full face helmets and submitted a letter highlighting the plus points against the prohibition of full face helmets to an Assistant Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office.

On the same day they went to Public Affairs Minister John Amaratunga's house and handed over a letter to him.

Use of full face helmets was to be banned from April 2. But the Government has lifted the prohibition enabling the use of full face helmets.

Traffic DIG G.D.A.K. Senaratne said normal visor helmets can be used and it would cause no damage in case of an accident while riding the motorcycle.

He said the helmet shell must be hard and flexible. Then the damage caused to the head can be prevented by a considerable level. When an accident occurs the rider will bend the head and the possibility for the front part of the head being damaged is high.

If the full face helmet was used the risk for facial damage was high, the Traffic DIG said.

When the Senior Deputy Director of Material Laboratory of Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) S. Devage was asked whether there are any problems when using full face helmet, he said that if the helmet is within the standard and has been produced in the proper shape there won't be any problem in using full face helmets.

When helmets are produced in the country or imported the SLS 517 certificate from the SLSI is compulsory to market the product.

The Material Laboratory will check the sample whether is suitable for Sri Lanka climate or not. The product should be within the SLS 517 standard. A standard helmet must consist of three components such as shell, rigifoam layer and chin cap.

The shell must be strong enough to bear any impact, the second layer must be strong enough absorb the whole impact of energy and minimum width of chin strap must be 20 mm, Devage said.

The shell of the helmet must be strong enough to bear any impact. Thorough checkups will be carried out on the quality of rigifoam layer. A quality helmet within the SLS 517 must satisfy all the needs of the SLSI.

The chin strap must be strapped tightly. When an accident occurs the helmet should remain on the head.

The chin strap lock must be easily removable in case of an accident occur. Due to this red colour is used for chin strap lock, Devage said.

When an accident occur the damages caused in the head can be identified immediately if the helmet was removed easily. Only then can immediate first aid measures be administered before rushing patient to hospital, he said.

Due to this, the colour of the chin strap is the most important part in producing a helmet, Devage said.

He said that motorcyclists must not wear chin cup. It would cause huge damage to the jaws of rider or pillion rider in case of accident.

Head of the Department of Transport and Logistics at the University of Moratuwa, Dr. T. Sivakumar said that banning full-face helmets would put the safety of motorcyclists at risk.According to Colombo National Hospital records, 905 of the 2,413 people killed in road accidents last year were motorcyclists.

He said the tinted visor allows better vision without blinding riders from the sun's rays.