legal to drive with a helmet on public roads?

I suspect that if you are in an accident with a helmet on that the jurry will be easy to convince that the helmet contributed to a lack of awareness of your surroundings. And that that increased the odds of the accident happening.

 

It is illegal to cover your EARS in most states. Not much specific concern about obscuring peripheral vison besides the catch-all that outlaws tinted windshields, disco balls hanging from rearview mirror, and cracks that are in front of your face.

But, a helmet could EASILY be designed to increase commuter/driver safety in a standard passenger car. It would look very unusual, and careful thought would be needed to prevent -increasing- neck and other injuries.

But I bet someday you will be able to buy one.

When I look at the top shelf in my closet, I have helmets for street bike, mx- bike, road race (with radios), short races (no radio), drivers school/ DE (open face), in addition to Mt Bike and skate.

I swore I would never wear a Mt Bike helmet, but after a BAD crash that kinda knocked me out and tore up my scalp pretty good, I looked at my kids and realized how selfish I was being.

 

Good luck on trying to talk your way out of a speeding ticket when you are wearing a race helmet while driving your car



Frank

 

For extra points...wear a racing helmet while driving a modded-out ricer!

Frank

 

http://www.vexon.net/

Helmet to address the peripheral vision problem

 

Also it would interfere with everyone's hand-held cell phone use...

 

Just to be clear, neither would I.

 

No, the HANS device is quite effective. Not sure where you got the idea I argued against that.

A *neck brace*, which a HANS is *not*, is useless.

But a HANS device doesn't work alone, it is a complete system: helmet, HANS, seat, harness, roll structure. The harness restriction part of using a HANS would make the helmet "problem" even worse as now you can't lift your shoulders when you turn to look in your blind spots.

Yes, severely.

 

what about a WWI leather fighter cap with goggles? big ones so you don't lose your peripheral. I'd rock that if I had a Model A roadster or something, ear flaps and all.

 

That would be cool.

 

Wear a bicycle helmet or skate board helmet. It would offer some protection but not add enough mass to your noggin to hurt your neck much worse.

 

Yes, a F1 Driver's peripheral vision is compromised. Only a bit by the helmet, but a lot by not being able to turn their neck much. This is fine because they do not have any traffic coming at them from side streets unless you count pit lane, and think of how many wrecks there have been from guys hitting as they come out of the pits. I would say the odds are much higher than regular Joe's merging at on ramps. They can also much better predict what their opponents are doing than you can predict what that teenager/grandmother/dude on his phone/chick doing her nails/mom or dad yelling at their kids in the back seat are going to do in any situation, so they do not need the as much vision to watch over them. They just need to drive the race line, on the street the "race line" is ALWAYS variable.

 

can you imagin someone driving down the road in a white styrofoam helmet?


when I was on the 10 in Rialto a few years ago, in the rain, I watched a guy in an old Rx7 with the top down and a foam helmet in a rain coat fly down the freeway shoulder screaming at the top of his lungs. I almost pissed myself.

 

There's a common thread in all those accidents... you. Perhaps you need to upgrade what's inside the helmet, instead of worrying about the helmet itself?

 

As I said, I don't know and was asking. You raise good points.

 

I remember when the HANS device was first introduced and pushed by the big racing orgs. There were quite a few drivers that did not like it because you could not turn/pivot your head to the side, and getting into and out of the car was a little more of a hassle. After a few wrecks that drivers walked away from, It was quickly evident that the restrictions were well worth the protection they afforded.

I also think it would draw cops attention and if you got pulled by the guy whos wife hasn't touched him in a month, you might get a 'restricted view' ticket or some other hassle on the side of the road.

 

I saw a discussion on auto safety a few years ago where a safety expert said that wearing a helmet would be the "gold standard" for preventing fatalities in car accidents. He said fatalities would decrease by about 20 percent. He also said that head injuries would decrease by at least 50 percent. He had charts that showed how this would save many, many, many billions of dollars if this was implemented. He was also smart enough to say that wearing of helmets in cars would not occur within the next 50 years and most likely never.

 

That's a shame and ironic. Safety regulations grow and grow seemingly by the year but the issue of wearing helmets is mysteriously avoided.

 

Ok so I had to know.

I went today to the North Hollywood Police Department and asked an officer, a blonde woman, if wearing a helmet while driving a car was illegal. She looked at me with a smirk before going into her officer mode. I took notes and maybe she thought I was going to court.

"Hi," I said, "I have some questions. Ah.... is wearing a helmet while driving illegal?"


She paused and then said "No, they're not illegal." I began grinning in slight surprise.

"They're not?!" I asked.

"As long as the helmet design doesn't obstruct your view within the vehicle they're ok to wear" she said.

So I asked "what if it's a full-faced helmet?"

"That would probably obstruct the view and would not be legal" she said. She continued: "They're also illegal in a convertible because there are still pillars to see around and obstruct the view; a motorcycle rider can look all around them without any obstructions."

This was interesting and she was very polite and seemed to enjoy the unusual questions.

"What about an open faced helmet?" I asked and she paused a bit before answering.

"Probably not illegal" as she nodded.

"So those aren't illegal?" I asked.

"Does an open face helmet obstruct your view like a full-faced helmet?" she asked me.

"Well, not really. They're more open and ...."

"Then no. But it's a judgment call of the officer."

I then asked about roll cages.

"How about a roll cage in the car. Are those illegal?" I asked.

"A roll cage?" she asked, quizzically. She looked, in a subtle way, as if my questions were strange.

"Yes" I said.

"As long as the design of the cage doesn't obstruct the view, they're perfectly legal."

"Nice!" I said, enthusiastically, and thanked her for her time. I was going to ask about a Hans device, but felt the discussion was over. I appreciated the information that I did get.


So I think you can wear a helmet as long as the helmet allows for as normal a view as possible, being a judgment call on the scene. Were it to go to court, and you were cited for obstructed view, you could bring the helmet into court and prove that it didn't restrict your view if you had such a helmet design (like the patent pending special helmet design posted earlier).

 

I once posed the question of wearing helmets while driving to a CHP officer. I was told that it was illegal. He also got a laugh out of it.

How many accidents have you been in? At some point I would think that you need to look at your driving habits a little bit. There's places to speed and then there's places where you need to float with the traffic if you want to avoid accidents.

 

Thanks for your concerns; they've all been the fault of the other driver(s), with them slamming into me as I was either stopped or me going under 35mph.

Whenever I speed I never have accidents.

 

I have found no mention in the California Vehicle Code of any prohibition on wearing a helmet while driving a car. The closest thing to it that I was able to find might be Section 24700, which contains this wording:

Could this be applied to wearing a helmet, as it mentions "headset" and "earplugs" only and specifically? I would think not, but I am not qualified to provide legal advice.

As for the obstructed view issue, Section 26708(a)(2) reads:

To the layman (me) this section seems to be directed at things other than headwear, but again, I am not qualified to provide legal advice. If you really want to know definitively, I think you would be best served by asking an attorney who specializes in traffic issues, rather than a random police officer or some car enthusiasts on a web forum.

 

And you could cite these in court if necessary. Thanks for that bit of research, it's interesting. As for me, I'm going to wear one anyway, probably full-faced with a Hans device and roll cage. If they pull me over then so be it.

 

I think you can apply for a "special" use permit if you "qualify"

Of course, they (helmets) are not allowed, by DOT reg, while driving a passenger car in the US --- the reasons should be obvious --- you may be enhancing your protection, but not necessarily that of others sharing the road.

 

Exactly. The HANS device depends on the four or five point restraint system to hold the shoulder pieces. A HANS simply won't work with a stock shoulder harness.

Granted, a lot of stock shoulder harnesses are useless and should be replaced. The B-pillar in a 4-door is way too far forward to make a good anchor point.

But most stock seats lack the belt openings for the shoulder harnesses that a HANS requires. An aftermarket Ricaro might have them, but they have to be at the right height for the driver to work with a HANS. So if you're the only driver, or if you swap seats when your wife takes the vehicle, ...


SA2003 helmets with HANS will probably run you afoul of the "headset"/"earphones" restriction: Most race drivers wear combination earplugs and radio ear buds when wearing a helmet.

And people on pit wall are telling them about traffic coming up behind them -- because the drivers can only see what those dinky little mirrors show them.

(Old F1 joke: Honda execs were touring the Lotus shop and asked how anyone could see anything in those business card sized mirrors. They told him, "Don't worry: This is Nakajima's car --- there's never anyone behind him." )


Indycar drivers rely heavily on their spotters to warn them when someone is coming up on them.

On the street, I'd think having spotters would be more helpful than a helmet.


Take a look at WRC coverage. The driver and codriver both wear open face helmets with an intercom system when running a special stage --- which are run on roads or trails closed to the public. When they move to transit stages on public roads, they doff the helmets. (And often use intercom headsets because of the noise of an anti-lag turbo car.)


If you're worried about impact safety, I'd first look into replacing the stock seats and belt system. With a properly positioned headrest and a correctly fitting shoulder harness, your impact safety could be significantly improved without having to wear a helmet.

And I'm not sure I'd want the extra weight of a helmet helping to mash my face into the airbag.