I have some motorcycle helmets which carry DOT approval but not ECE 22.05. Would they be illegal to use on public streets in CH?

According to the road traffic ordonnance, ECE 22 is the standard. It's Article 3b on page 5 "Port du casque":
http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/rs/7/741.11.fr.pdf

I'd better sell them here in the US then. Thanks!

A Swiss co-worker of mine had an accident on his 60's vintage Vespa while wearing his apparently non-compliant 60's vintage helmut. He was fined 250.-chf.

man i freakin' love the englishforum. i was searching for exactly this sort of information before posting a new thread.

so, when looking to buy helmets, it needs to say "ECE approved" or something along those lines?

specifically, im looking at stuff like this on ebay.de, which (understandably enough) doesnt have swiss saftey approval standards on it.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Berliner-Roll...item905bc0cbc9

can anyone help me out and let me know if this would be legal here, or where in ZRH i could get something like this?

According to the German Wikipedia an ECE helmet has to protect ears, forehead and neck, yours does not. As mentioned above the law request an ECE-22 approved helmet.
Perhaps you will find an other fashionable helmet in this shop.

Firstly, how many heads have you got?

Secondly, surely the point of a helmet is to protect and minimize head injury, not whether you can get away with sub-standard headgear...

Calling DOT a sub standard is a very difficult topic. ECE and DOT test similiar things but not the same. A helmet may pass the DOT but not the ECE test and vice versa. So which of those is the better?

http://www.webbikeworld.com/eicma-20...-standards.htm

http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/

1. Make sure it is a reputable brand.
2. Make sure it is certified (if possible).
3. Make sure it FITS your head (site link shows how to measure)
4. Make sure you buy a NEW one
5. Make sure you fasten strap properly
6. Make sure you have a motorcycle and can ride legally before doing step 1...

keep in mind that UVEX are pulling out of the motorbike gear market so there are some mamazing deals out there... but not from the helmet shop it appears

also take the results from SHARP with a lot of salt... they had some tests that showed a £50 plastic 2 piece helmet had far better crash protection than a carbon or composite helmet along with some other oddities.

There is a statement there on the E-Bay advert that this Berliner-Roller helmet is, ohne ECE Zulassung!

That means it is illegal to use it on a public road.

yep i saw that subsequent to my discovery of the meaning of the term...

which begs the question... WTF are those helmets for?

"oh hey heres a sweet looking helmet, but if you buy it and get pulled over youll get a huge fine, plus your brains will turn to Griesscreme if you get into an accident. enjoy."

I think they are sold for the ex-rockers attending DDR reunion parties.

Thats because the German law just mentions suitable helmets. What means suitable? An ECE approved helmet, DOT approved, JIS approved, or just one that protects you somehow? The somehow hlemt may give some protection but if you crack your skull in a minor accident it was clearly unsuitable.

Furthermore, until December 32, 2005 it could have been any helmet, see here.

The ECE. Sorry, but just to explain the difference between the two in simple terms: The DOT test has some ridiculous requirements that have nothing to do with real world accidents while the ECE tests are supposed to model real impacts as good as possible.

In the American test does a small but heavy steel ball get dropped on the helmet from a defined height, which has to withstand the impact. In reality do riders typically hit a flat and rough surface at a high speed... which is a very different sort of impact.

Simple result: I happen to have a BMW helmet, arguably one of the safest models on the planet according to European standards. While BMW does sell it's bikes and other gear in the US, do they not sell helmets there: The same helmet that gets a five star rating in Europe does simply fail the tests.

I read some article in a bike magazine some years back where BMW pretty openly said that they are not interested to make worse helmets in order to pass the US legislation but only sell things they really believe in... one of the reasons why I bought their product actually. (Similar is apparently true for some Schuberth models.)