North Carolina Product Liability Lawyer & Attorney : D. Hardison Wood : Toy Safety, Child Restraint, Car Seats

Changes to the motorcycle helmet law go into  effect on  January 1, 2008 in North Carolina which offer better specification on the type of helmet that a motorcyclist should  wear.

The new law also clarifies that the helmet must be properly secured on the head using a strap so that it will stay on in the event of a crash.

Motorcycle helmets are considered legally compliant if they meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 218, which requires helmets to have a firm inner liner of polystyrene foam that is about one-inch thick.

Compliant motorcycle safety helmets will also carry the symbol “DOT,” for U.S. Department of Transportation, permanently installed by the manufacturer on the back of the helmet, as well as a permanently attached manufacturer’s label on the interior of the helmet. Novelty-type helmets are not compliant with FMVSS-218.
To identify helmets that are compliant with FMVSS-218, motorcyclists can visit the following page for  more  information.

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Football players...a  recall involving helmet straps has been issued.  If you are using this product please take notice!

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Football Helmet Chin Straps

Units: About 235,000

Manufacturer: Nike Inc., of Beaverton, Ore.

Hazard: The chin strap’s plastic cup can break as a result of contact, exposing the player to facial or head injuries.

Incidents/Injuries: Nike has received 18 reports of the chin strap breaking, including two reports of concussions, two reports of facial lacerations requiring stitches, and a report of a broken nose.

Description: The recalled football helmet chin strap consists of a plastic cup with a foam liner, straps and four metal snaps. They were sold in both youth and adult sizes and come in black/gray and white/gray color combinations. The Nike Swoosh trademark is printed on the outside of the chin cup and DRI-FIT™ is printed on the foam liner. “Made in China” and one of the following four style numbers is printed on the inside of the strap: FA0016 046, FA0016 130, FA0021 046, or FA0021 130.

Sold at: Sporting good stores nationwide and on the firm’s Web site www.Nike.com from April 2006 through October 2007 for about $20.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the chin strap immediately and contact Nike for a product voucher redeemable at www.nikestore.com

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Nike toll-free at (888) 583-6453 between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.nikebiz.com

Always keep in  mind that a head injury may not be apparent right away, so if you suspect that you  may have  suffered any type of brain injury, please seek medical attention as soon as  possible.

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As  we know sports injuries are all  too common in  high schools across the nation.  The injuries are not exclusive to the sport, they happen in everything, football, soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey and more.  It is a promising idea to us that there are studies such as the  this one    where there are monitors placed inside the helmets of football players.  These monitors register to a laptop on the sidelines indicating what type of blow to the head the player just received.

The purpose of the high-tech headgear, which uses six strategically placed, spring-loaded accelerometers to wirelessly beam information to a Web-based system on a laptop computer on the sidelines, is to more effectively – and more immediately – detect when blows to players’ heads may result in concussions or more severe brain injuries.

This also opens the opportunity to better pad the helmets by learning where the hits are causing the most damage. 

“We will look at how hard and where they get hit,” he said, adding that one possible outcome of the work may be determining the need to develop a different type of helmet for high school athletes.

“We may find they’re getting hit in different places and need more padding in those areas of the helmet, for example.”

This is so important, as high school students' brains may not be fully developed and furthermore,  the damage that these injuries cause could evolve over years.

Unfortunately, Broglio said, “what other researchers are finding is that people with multiple concussions have incurred Alzheimer’s Disease at a higher rate. Getting their ‘bell rung’ as high school athletes may have permanent repercussions. There seems to be a link.”

It seems this study certainly is a step  in the  right  direction to protecting our children.

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