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Crash Helmets


ukelele lady

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Guest binsted71

In the U.K. it became a legal requirement to wear a Government approved safety helmet whilst riding a motorcycle (The Motor Cycle Crash Helmet Act), on June 1st 1973.

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Just waiting to see where this thread is going . . . ?

Meanwhile, a related question. When were lights made compulsory on motorcycles?

In the late 60's I used to ride all over Yorkshire - legally - without any lights. This is me setting off for Skegness.

Had to be there before dark though!

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I'm not entirely sure they are compulsory now. If they are fitted they must work of course. The state of the llights on the old 6 volt systems back in the 50s and 60s, they were only there to glow and let others know you were there anyhow. Our thunderbird had difficulty throwing a beam as far as the garage doors .... from inside the garage!

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In the U.K. it became a legal requirement to wear a Government approved safety helmet whilst riding a motorcycle (The Motor Cycle Crash Helmet Act), on June 1st 1973.

Correct answer binstead71, and one which not many motorcyclists, even ones old enough to remember, will know.

The reason for this is that a survey carried out in 1972-3 before the introduction of the Motorcycle Crash Helmet Act indicated that over 88% of motorcyclists were already wearing crash helmets anyway.

Proof that over 88% of motorcyclists at the time were not just wild young idiots tearing about on a deathtrap but did have a lot of common sense and a good idea of their own safety, - a survival instinct if you like.

Those not wearing crash helmets were often young, inexperienced riders, - young lads showing off and some disgruntled Hell's Angel type rockers.

In my experience, like the Hells Angels, I had hair at the time I started riding motorbikes. I wouldn't want to ride without a helmet on as not only is it unsafe if you had long hair then after a short blast up the road on a bike you couldn't get a brush through your hair for weeks.

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I had hair at the time I started riding motorbikes. I wouldn't want to ride without a helmet on as not only is it unsafe if you had long hair then after a short blast up the road on a bike you couldn't get a brush through your hair for weeks.

So that's why people wear crash helmets, just so they can brush their hair after

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So that's why people wear crash helmets, just so they can brush their hair after

No, if you wear a crash helmet you don't need to brush your hair, - you don't get that windswept look.

If you don't wear a crash helmet your hair gets so tangled up in the wind that you can't brush your hair and it looks a mess.

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My Dad always wore a helmet, right from these days. We always wore crash helmets and after seeing my brother in law's Bell Star fullface helmet after an accident we all got one - better a trashed helmet than no face.

(Dad is the one in the white helmet - about 1950)

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Grandma, Grandad and Great uncle off to chapel sometime in the late 1920s. Although not shown on this photo Grandad would always wear the helmet he wore whilst dispatch riding in France, though for some strange reason never on his way to worship. This combo as far as I know is still buried in the garden of a house in Firshill Avenue. W/E .

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No, if you wear a crash helmet you don't need to brush your hair, - you don't get that windswept look.

If you don't wear a crash helmet your hair gets so tangled up in the wind that you can't brush your hair and it looks a mess.

Whenever I went on my Boyfriends (now husbands) bike in 1964 Dad always insisted I wore a helmet it played havoc with my beehive hairdo though.

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My Dad always wore a helmet, right from these days. We always wore crash helmets and after seeing my brother in law's Bell Star fullface helmet after an accident we all got one - better a trashed helmet than no face.

(Dad is the one in the white helmet - about 1950)

Thanks Oldbloke.

As I stated earlier, most sensible motorcyclists were wearing crash helmets many years before they became compulsory and by the time they were made compulsory about 88% were wearing them whenever they went anywhere on a bike.

This pre- compliance with a law before it was passed was not true of car drivers, very few of which bothered to wear seat belts before compulsion, a range of fines for non-compliance and Sir Jimmy Saville having to remind them through a series of TV adverts (more correctly public information films) to "Clunk - Click every trip"

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Grandma, Grandad and Great uncle off to chapel sometime in the late 1920s. Although not shown on this photo Grandad would always wear the helmet he wore whilst dispatch riding in France, though for some strange reason never on his way to worship. This combo as far as I know is still buried in the garden of a house in Firshill Avenue. W/E

Something to do with taking your hat off in place of worship perhaps?

Seem to remember that when crash helmets became compulsory in 1973 the biggest group of non-compliant motorcyclists were actually Sikhs whose religious beliefs meant that they had to wear turbans as headgear and so could not wear a crash helmet.

I can't remember what the outcome of their defiance of the crash helmet legislation in light of their religious beliefs was though.

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Whenever I went on my Boyfriends (now husbands) bike in 1964 Dad always insisted I wore a helmet it played havoc with my beehive hairdo though.

Dad was right to insist you wore one, and hopefully he encouraged your boyfriend to do so as well.

However, crash helmets are not good with certain fashionable hairstyles, male or female. Certainly not good with a beehive.

I had long hair so many girls probably had the same problem as me, - the bit of hair that hung out of the bottom of the helmet still got tangled up.

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