wearing helmets in cars

[monaco]

Just wondering, is it legal to wear a full face helmet while driving a car on public roads ??
I saw a chap in a caterham/westy type thing this morning wearing one, looked very strange on public roads.
Boring but just interested !!

[CarZee]

I'd be mighty interested to know how it could possibly be illegal.. ?

[scruff400]

Is it legal?

It's not illegal.

Not sure some people would be able to get into their cars with a full face on.

You don't need a helmet for a trike but some guys like to wear their spikey WW1 hats.

[scruff400]

On reflection, a helmet would protect against grazed foreheads when the caterham undertakes [sic] an artic.

[gb61390]

I know a girl who was given a ride on the back of a bike to pick her car up from the pub one Sunday morning.
After the bike drove off she realised that she couldn't get the helmut off so drove home through the town centre in a 1.0l Fiesta with full face helmut!
She wasn't happy with all the laughing she encountered!
Cheers...... Andrew

[CarZee]

I drove from Basingstoke to London on Saturday made up as Frankenstein's Monster - if you want funny looks, it's a highly recommended method

[Basil Brush]

Went through Battersea recently in the back of a taxi with girlfriend dressed as Mother Theresa (sp?) and me as the pope. Also raised a few glances.

Nothing to do with crash helmets, but the big pointy hat took some getting in the car.

>> Edited by Basil Brush on Tuesday 6th August 15:39

[JonRB]

I seem to remember a piece in one of the motoring magazines a few years back about one of the extreme windscreenless cars like the Rocket / Atom / R500 / JPE / Scorpion / Renault Sport / whatever that said they advised a good pair of goggles and a hat, although obviously a full face helmet would be better but unfortunately not legal.

Obviously this isn't a definitive proof, but it does lead me to doubt the cries of "of course it's legal!". Looks like further research is required.

[anonymous-user]

its legal, big discussion on the lotus 7 pages about this quite often. in fact the police sympathise with owners of caterfields and similar and believe it to be a good idea. obviously the red mist is likely to settle in a bit more with a lid on but on the whole i think its sensible to wear a lid in a car a exposed as this. not sure the police would take the same approach if you wore one in a tin top.....

[JonRB]

Thanks Pablo. A quick Google search was inconclusive, but I did find a link to an article in Police Magazine that mentions wearing a helmet or goggles in a Westfield Megablade, so that does seem to support your view.

Maybe I either misremembered the article or else the author of the article was plain wrong!

[anonymous-user]

www.blatchat.com/Topic.asp?topic_id=17348&forum_id=1&Topic_Title=Helmets+%2D+Yea+or+Nae&forum_title=ChitChat

www.blatchat.com/Topic.asp?topic_id=8926&forum_id=1&Topic_Title=Crash+hats+again&forum_title=ChitChat

www.blatchat.com/Topic.asp?topic_id=13737&forum_id=1&Topic_Title=aeroscreens%2C+helmets+and+the+police%21%3F&forum_title=ChitChat

as i said, it comes up a frequently!

[qwicksylva]

I had also heard that it wasn't legal, although being the owner of a 'windscreen free' car you can bet I'll be wearing one most of the time when summer comes! Also I heard that harnesses aren't legal, anyone have more info? Surely dibble can see the safety aspects of this type of equipment and would use their judgement rather than stick to the letter of the law anyway.....?

[mel]

I used to often see rolling chassis of lwb transit type things being driven on the A3 near hindhead obviously en route to a coach builders to be converted to ice cream vans or something but the drivers were perched up on a seat with seat belts and a steering wheel sticking up from the floor but the drivers always had helmets on of yes and trade plates.

[ultimapaul]

My understanding is ..... Open top car then helmets are perfectly legal but not in a tin top.

Harnesses are OK so long as they're properly marked. BS number/kite mark or the correct EU marking. I'm sure if they were illegal then they would not be acceptable for SVA

[hertsbiker]

eh? not legal? how?!

[gnomesmith]

quote:
I drove from Basingstoke to London on Saturday made up as Frankenstein's Monster - if you want funny looks, it's a highly recommended method

I suppose you made a bolt for it.

[big rumbly]

When I used to rally, the blue book stated that no helmets to be worn on road rallies, and on stage rallies helmets had to be removed before going on to the public highway, I always assumed that this was due to traffic regs.

[manek]

Isn't there a regulation that states you have to be able to see and hear what's going on around you (or somesuch) and, though not specifically illegal, it could be argued that a lid would hinder that?