Dear Editor, A year ago, my son purchased a German style helmet. We hid it and he was forced to use the helmet we chose for him. Glad we did, a week later he fell off and completely wrote his bike off. He had the standard scrapes and bruises but also hit the ground so hard that he cracked his full-face helmet.

The crack was on the side near the back, a place the German helmet does not protect. Great parenting by my wife and I. He said to us that he was lucky that he was wearing the full face one. Not really luck was it. 

That to him, is a distant memory and now he has purchased another German style helmet. We know that teenagers test boundaries and statistically are more likely to have accidents. 

I don’t like the German style helmets, firstly I imagine any Jewish visitors to our beautiful shores would be reminded of the horrific genocide in WW2, not something we should proudly champion. 

My main point is, are they legal?

He didn’t buy this helmet from a shop – a teenage friend sold it to him. He’s imported many, from online marketplace Temu, they are much cheaper and a lighter construction than his previous German style helmet.

It took a lot of looking but found the helmet standards on the Cook Islands Police Facebook page with various marks and worldwide standards. It looks to be lifted from the NZTA website, which is fine. However, the standard relevant to the mark on his helmet states “Helmets complying with FMVSS 218 will be marked with the letters ‘DOT’. This standard is only acceptable for motorcycle helmets that have been manufactured and purchased in the United States.” As these helmets come out of China via Temu, am I right that this helmet does not comply?

I would like the Cook Islands Police to clear this up once and for all for worried parents and go on record stating that firstly, German style motorbike helmets are compliant with their regulations. 

Secondly that the Cook Islands Police go on record stating that they are performing their obligation of checking compliance and the certification of these helmets. Obviously, these would be evidenced by ticketing and court records.

If they are not, then surely the Cook Islands Police is complicit in this illegal practice. They have not acted to remove thousands of these helmets off our roads. I would then make the conclusion that any deaths or accidents that occurred in the past or future due to the non-policing of non-compliant helmets specified Section 86A would open the Police to legal action from grieving parents. Parents who could not persuade their sons and daughters to wear an approved helmet as it is their child’s understanding that their actions are legitimate as all of their friends wear them with no consequences or legal intervention.

This helmet law was brought in for a reason Cook Islands Police, please help us protect our kids and help parents be great parents or prepare for litigation.

A concerned parent

(Name and address supplied)