NSW helmet laws

mick_dundee · Post by **mick_dundee** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:44 pm

From another forum,

Meeting with Transport for NSW in relation to NSW Helmet laws.

I met with Transport for NSW DDG Tim Reardon, Marg Prendegast and Keith Simmons on Friday the 3rd of August to discuss Transport for NSW’s position on the current helmet laws in NSW. As it currently stands the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) monitor the Helmet Standards in Australia. All helmets for sale in Australia are required to meet the Mandatory Standard AS1698:1988 and can be certified by any number of Conformance Assessment Boards or CAB’s. Recently introduced legislation in NSW means you are only allowed to wear a helmet certified by four of these CAB’s.

So how does this affect me I hear you ask…… Right now you can go online and purchase an AS1698:1988 certified helmet from an online store based in say Adelaide. This helmet is deemed suitable by the ACCC as safe and good to be sold. If it has the wrong sticker on it you will get booked by the boys in blue in NSW because Transport for NSW don’t think the ACCC can get it right. Not only will you get booked, but you will lose points and if it is a double demerit weekend and you and your pillion are wearing a helmet with the wrong sticker on it you can and will lose your license. This also effects riders from interstate when passing through the glorious state of NSW to the GP or on a road trip. The information gleaned from this meeting is that Transport for NSW are not going to change their position on the recently introduced road rules and will not repeal them, leaving us, the rider, responsible for monitoring which sticker we have on our perfectly legal and safe helmets. Any riders that have recently been booked for a helmet offence could you please contact the MCCofNSW via email on enquiries@mccofnsw.org.au .

Further reading can be found at www.roadrider.com.au/special-features/state-of-helmets

So, if you ride in NSW (irrespective of where you live), if your helmet does not comply with the new NSW helmet legislation, you can be booked and points deducted from your licence.

We have a rep on NSW MCC don't we, can anyone confirm/deny?

laidback · Post by **laidback** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:55 pm

FMD...what a croc...

dickfaber · Post by **dickfaber** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:14 pm

once again, we are the epicentre of 37 kinds of fcuked

laidback · Post by **laidback** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:17 pm

Not that it worries me as I live in NSW but if your legal in your own state then you should be legal in NSW.
There are so many testing labs across the world and they can't agree on how to test so WTF does NSW decide that theirs is the only valid way.

What's next...maybe Seiko right after all...

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:18 pm

that would be a piece of piss for any half-baked solicitor to challenge in a court and win.

The Courts don't give a flying fuck what 'Transport for NSW' think - if you got booked for wearing a helmet with an AS sticker on it that is legal in every other state of the country - you would get off.

This will only be a problem - as it is already and this is *not* news - if the helmet does not have the AS1698:1988 sticker.

dickfaber · Post by **dickfaber** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:21 pm

why the fuck am i forced to buy from the 'approved' supplier; at their 'approved' price?

as i said earlier - epicentre of 37 kinds of fcuked

or maybe fatty o'barrell is moving us in this direction

mick_dundee · Post by **mick_dundee** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:47 pm

Just got this in my inbox in reply to further enquiries I have made in regards. I've mentioned this before, I've been working with Guy Standford on this for
more than a year.

We're working with them on getting the right messages to those that count.
It's a complicated story but the ACCC is all over it now.

Expect to see some serious ducking and weaving by ministers soon.

Grant

Mattjin · Post by **Mattjin** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:10 pm

When is the last time a copper has checked your helmet?

When was your last crash where your helmet broke or failed to protect your head?

When was the last time the ACCC did anything?

Let it all blow over and keep wearing the same helmet. They cannot introduce a new law and make all helmets already approved at the time of purchase illegal. It will only effect any new helmets from that day forward.

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:19 pm

Coppers do random helmet checks from time to time - especially when it is in the news and on their radar.

If you are riding on the road using a lid that does not have an AS1698:1988 sticker on it - and you have a prang and suffer brain damage - the insurance company does not have to pay out. Simple as that. These helmets - while OK to wear in several other markets - don't have the magic sticker for use in Oz.

One other thing - that '5 Ticks' sticker is not the only one that is valid. That is simply a trademark sticker from that particular certifier. There are other stickers that are valid for 1698:1988 coverage....

I don't disagree at all, that the situation is an epic clusterfuck. There are plenty of lids sold on US ebay which we don't get here, which would easily meet our standards - the blame lies with the importers and the certifiers who are all in cahoots and want to keep us limited to a closed market.

valkau · Post by **valkau** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:53 pm

All this guy is saying in the link is that you could get away with not having an AS sticker in NSW before Feb 2010 because there was a loophole that is now closed. The claim that “thousands of riders in NSW have been buying and using helmets in conformance with European, USA or Japanese Standards sounds like massive exaggeration. The need for an Australian Standards sticker has been taught in NSW RTA’s bike licence courses for a decade or so.

Until recently, SAL was the main standards certifying agency for helmets and all they have on their sticker (a red and silver one) is AS 1698, not the version date. So how would a traffic patrolman have a clue? TUV have recently emerged doing Shark helmets (blue and silver sticker) and they show the version AS1698:2006 which was on a 2011 Shark helmet I saw yesterday.

There are even later versions issued - 2008 and 2009. The fact that NSW accepts 1988 version means that any subsequent standards are improvements. Any Court would regard a newer standard as trumping an older specification. NSW RTA’s Helmet Evaluation Program has recently tested AS 1698:2006 helmets and the results are on http://www.myRTA.com They say:
All motorcycle helmets sold in Australia must comply with the Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 1698 Protective Helmets for Vehicle Users. The tests conducted by the RTA show that some helmets provide injury protection levels well in excess of those required by the Standard.

KEL10R · Post by **KEL10R** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 5:54 pm

Re: NSW helmet laws
by Gosling1 on Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:19 pm

Coppers do random helmet checks from time to time - especially when it is in the news and on their radar.

If you are riding on the road using a lid that does not have an AS1698:1988 sticker on it - and you have a prang and suffer brain damage - the insurance company does not have to pay out. Simple as that. These helmets - while OK to wear in several other markets - don't have the magic sticker for use in Oz.

One other thing - that '5 Ticks' sticker is not the only one that is valid. That is simply a trademark sticker from that particular certifier. There are other stickers that are valid for 1698:1988 coverage....

I don't disagree at all, that the situation is an epic clusterfuck. There are plenty of lids sold on US ebay which we don't get here, which would easily meet our standards - the blame lies with the importers and the certifiers who are all in cahoots and want to keep us limited to a closed market.

".....shut the gate on this one Maxie......it's the ducks guts !!............."

That last part about sums it up,
keeping us in a closed market,have you seen how cheap some helmets are in the u.s, if they were genuine about it there would be an authority we (average joe motorcyclist) could take our helmet to and get it verified,hell they could easily certify it if it has a european/u.s certification,for a fee of course....

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 7:02 pm

KEL10R wrote:.....if they were genuine about it there would be an authority we (average joe motorcyclist) could take our helmet to and get it verified,hell they could easily certify it if it has a european/u.s certification,for a fee of course....

its just not that simple unfortunately - when they do the certifying process they subject a lot of helmets to a lot of tests - most of which destroy each example of each helmet supplied for certifiying. They don't just have a look at a lid and give it certification....even if it does have the US or Euro standards sticker.....

There is a great thread kicking around here about this exact process - one of the local boys down here - Takaami - imports and sells c/f helmets. He went through the entire process a couple of years ago and lots of the gory details are in the thread - eventually he managed to get his RHOK helmets certified for sale in the Aussie market.

stetto · Post by **stetto** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:39 am

How hard is it to put up a list of all helmets that pass our certification and then realise an arai corsair v is the exact same helmet regardless if it has a euro, USA, jap or any other cert. sticker? They'd probably defend with they could be cheap copies. The helmet laws dumb anyway

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:11 pm

common sense is not something that the Standards Association take into account when testing helmets.

seiko1 · Post by **seiko1** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:59 pm

laidback wrote:Not that it worries me as I live in NSW but if your legal in your own state then you should be legal in NSW.
There are so many testing labs across the world and they can't agree on how to test so WTF does NSW decide that theirs is the only valid way.

What's next...maybe Seiko right after all...

PFFFFFT Wadda ya mean "after all" ?
Some of us just see the "Big Picture" right from the start, others need a block dropped on their heads,
....and yet others won't believe their arse is on fire aven if they feel the heat