Global Alliance NGOs for Road Safety: Journey toward safe helmets for all

 

Editorial: Availability of nonstandard helmets is letting people down This week, we published test results from 11 helmets brought by members to the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety (Ministerial Conference) and displayed at our booth. All of them failed to pass basic safety tests. Read about the tests and the results below. These helmets are typical of those worn in our members' countries. They demonstrate a sickening reality: even though people are doing the right thing when they strap on their helmet, unless that helmet is a safe one, it will not protect them. They are being let down when they need it most. It is not enough to focus only on increasing helmet use when people can still easily access unsafe helmets, like those tested. We must eliminate them from the market. Our white paper Making Safe Helmets a Reality for All sets out actions for governments, private sector, UN agencies, funders, and NGOs toward that goal. The helmet testing is the next tool in our multi-pronged helmet advocacy program, supporting NGOs to keep system operators—those who have the power to prevent unsafe helmets being manufactured, imported, and sold—accountable for ensuring that only safe helmets are available. Read how the helmet testing fits into our broader strategy below.  Join us in our advocacy toward the goal that only helmets that meet safety standards should be available in the first place.

The helmets ready for testing in the laboratory

Helmet test results launched After the Ministerial Conference, we took 11 helmets from Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greece, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, and Vietnam to an ISO-accredited laboratory to put them to the test, with funding from the FIA Foundation and technical expertise from Galeatus, LLC. The helmets were evaluated in the laboratory against three core tests that are common to many helmet standards, including UN Regulation No.22 (ECE 22.06). None of the 11 passed these three basic tests. One helmet passed one test. No further testing was required to demonstrate that these helmets should not be used as protective gear.  Three tests were carried out:  Helmet stability (rolloff) test: This test checks whether the helmet would stay on if a rider’s head suddenly whipped forward and then fell to the ground—a typical movement when a rider crashes into a vehicle or a fixed object, such as a barrier or tree. Retention system strength test: This tests whether the strap and buckle on the helmet (retention system) remain intact and keep the helmet on the rider’s head when subjected to typical crash forces.  Impact attenuation test: This test simulates the impact that a motorcycle rider might sustain when thrown off their bike into the air and then falling to the ground, a typical situation in a crash.  Helmets from Nigeria, Vietnam, and Côte d’Ivoire came off completely in the helmet stability test, and the chin strap of the helmet from Benin unbuckled in a retention system strength test. In a crash, these helmets will likely not stay on the rider’s head. All the helmets failed to reach ECE 22.06 requirements in the impact attenuation test, meaning that the helmets' liners failed to absorb a sufficient amount of impact energy. In a crash, those forces will be absorbed by the rider's head, which can result in skull and brain injury. Explore the different tests and results and find out more about our white paper and other helmet advocacy resources.

NGOs showing helmets to decision makers at the Alliance booth at the Ministerial Conference

Part of a broader helmet strategy The helmet testing is part of a broader Alliance helmet advocacy strategy, which was kicked off with publication of the Making safe helmets a reality for all white paper ahead of the Ministerial Conference. During the conference, the 11 helmets tested were among others sourced in markets, online, and in motorcycle stores by NGOs in their home countries and displayed at the booth. The helmets provided an opportunity for NGOs to bring their country's delegation to the booth, let them touch and feel the helmets for themselves, and discuss how to eliminate unsafe helmets. The issues were explored in more depth at our side event and helmet head-to-head sessions with NGOs and experts. Any helmets not sent to the laboratory were destroyed at the end of the conference to prevent them from being used, putting a rider's life at risk. Now, the key messages, findings, and recommended actions in the white paper are informing what we do next. The helmet testing, the white paper, the video stories published alongside the white paper, along with the Accountability Toolkit and its Priority Interventions, are building a set of resources for NGOs for helmet advocacy and accountability. We are grateful for the support of the FIA Foundation and Uber, which has enabled us to implement these advocacy tools and equip NGOs to use them. Explore our helmet advocacy resources and read about the next steps. A rider taking part in a community consultation in Mexico. Next steps The white paper sets out key asks for governments, private sector, UN agencies, funders, and NGOs. In the next phase of our helmet advocacy, we will equip and mobilize NGOs to expose nonstandard helmets, document community experiences, promote standard helmets as the popular choice, and engage with governments and other system operators using accountability tools.  On Thursday 18 September, we will hold an interactive workshop for Alliance member NGOs to share the results of the testing and brainstorm how we can use the results to advocate together for safe, standard, affordable helmets. We hope that you will join us. Register here. To amplify the white paper's messages and bring forward the realities that NGOs are seeing on local streets around the world, we continue to engage with global and regional forums, with and on behalf of our members. Next month, our Director of Global Programs, Chika Sakashita, will be taking part in the Asia Pacific Regional Road Safety Conference. Please let us know if you will be there.  We and our NGOs have many plans and ideas to eliminate unsafe helmets, and we are seeking additional corporate and other funders to partner with us to get them off the drawing board and into action. Please get in touch to join this exciting journey.  AIP Foundation's president at the Alliance's Safe Helmets for All side event at the Ministerial Conference. Member feature: helmet advocacy in Vietnam 90% of motorcycle riders in Vietnam wear helmets (WHO Global Status Report 2023), but an estimated 90% of those helmets do not meet the national helmet standard, according to research from Alliance member AIP Foundation and Hanoi University of Public Health. At the Ministerial Conference, the Vietnamese government made a commitment that included a target to increase the proportion of riders wearing standard helmets to 100%. This is an issue that AIP Foundation has been targeting for many years. Helmet legislation was recently strengthened through a comprehensive new national Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety, which states that riders' helmets must meet the national standard and be fastened correctly. In the drafting stages of the law, AIP Foundation, working with the Global Road Safety Partnership and the Global Health Advocacy Initiative, formed working groups that enabled them to provide technical support and capacity building to those drafting the law for the National Assembly. They targeted five key risk factors: helmets, child restraint systems, seat belts, drink driving, and speed. All five were included in the law. The law is in place, but enforcing the use of standard helmets is complex. It’s not always easy for the police themselves to tell a standard helmet from a nonstandard one, especially on a moving bike. Nonstandard helmets are readily available at street stalls, and when challenged, many vendors will simply say they are selling caps—not meant to be used as safety devices.  Read how AIP Foundation is advocating with the government and local communities to eliminate nonstandard helmets in Vietnam. NGOs conducting a helmet consultation with riders in India Upcoming events and deadlines Global Meeting of Nongovernmental Organizations Advocating for Road Safety and Road Victims Expression of Interest: applications open until 1 September 2025. Find out more. Asia-Pacific Regional Road Safety Conference: (Asian Development Bank, Global Road Safety Partnership, Asia-Pacific Road Safety Observatory in-person event) 9–11 September 2025, Asian Development Bank HQ Auditorium, Manila, Philippines. Find out more. NGO workshop: helmet test results and advocacy: (Alliance online event) 18 September 2025 14:00 CET. Register here. On track or off target: anniversary of the Global Plan: (Alliance online event) 30 October 2025 14:00 CET. Register here. World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims: (Global event) 16 November 2025. Launch of the Decade for Sustainable Transport: (UN DESA in-person event) 10 December 2025, UN Headquarters, New York, U.S.