Ok students, today's lesson covers the history of motorcycle helmets. Sometimes referred to as brain buckets, skid lids and many other provocative titles. Mr. Gottlieb Daimler was the first to come up with the idea in 1885 that the new gasoline engine dropped into the frame of a bicycle was just the ticket to grab the ladies attention and thus the motorcycle was born. However, Mr. Daimler was so busy with all the ladies that he did not think of a helmet. He also went on to manufacture a famous German car many of us wish we drove. Skip forward many years to Professor Charles Lombard and the burgeoning aviation industry. Now old Chuck decided a pilot ought to have something to protect their head in case he or she (yes ladies we love ya here too) had to hit the silk or ride the old Fokker in for a rough landing so he designed the first helmet for the Air Force. Before this pilots wore a simple leather cap with fur lining. Not the best in protection. Others realized the value of the new helmet and before long race car drivers began to use helmets. Helmets continued to be improved due to the increasingly faster speeds of the motorcycle and by the mid 1950's the Snell Foundation began to test and evaluate the different brands of motorcycle helmets in an effort to find the safest motorcycle helmets. In 1974 the US DOT enacted the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards law which set standards for the manufacturers of helmets to meet. If the standards are not met, tests such as the helmets shell strength, strap tensile strength and the ability of the helmet lining to absorb impacts, then the helmet does not receive DOT approval. So always look for a helmet with a DOT sticker on the inside. Ok, more on motorcycle helmets next time. Ride safe and always wear a quality motorcycle helmet. remember---someone loves you and don't ask me why!!