The changing helmet laws in Australia have caused a delay in the delivery of the Skully AR-1 head-up display (HUD) helmet.
The Californian makers of the world’s first commercially available motorcycle helmet with HUD say they have received more than 100 orders from Australia.
While they originally said they would apply for the lengthy Australian approval process, they have changed their minds after seeing the changes in the laws allowing the sale federally of UNECE 22.05 helmets and the approval of their use in all states and territories except WA, SA and Tasmania which are expected to follow suit soon.
MotorbikeWriter has now received an email from Skully spokesman Michael Fletcher that updates their status:
We’ve taken an interest in the status of ECE legislation in Australia because we have many Australian customers on our pre-order list, and so we want to make sure that they’ll be able to legally ride with our helmet (the SKULLY AR-1 is DOT certified and currently going through ECE certification, but will not be going through the Australian certification channels).
I understand that the law prohibiting the sale of helmets with only ECE certification and no Australian certification has been revoked federally, and also that the state governments of Queensland, NSW, NT, ACT, and Victoria have passed legislation allowing the use of ECE helmets. But from my understanding, WA, SA and Tasmania have yet to pass such legislation, although I’ve heard that it looks like Tasmania will pass legislation by the end of the month.
I’m hoping that you could let me know if you have any new information about the status of ECE legislation in WA, SA, and/or Tasmania, since I got a ton of great information from your articles in Motorbike Writer.
Skully AR-1 HUD helmetLong-time helmet law campaigner Wayne Carruthers says e expects WA will approval UNECE as soon as next week, Tasmania at the end of February, while SA is “dragging the chain”.
“UNECE helmets do not require further onshore Australian approval,” he says. “Part of the UNECE system is approval is done in one country and all countries honour the approval.
“Personally I dont see any helmet company bothering with AS1698 in the future; they will all simply use UNECE and cut their costs.”
Meanwhile, the Skully helmet is quite expensive. A DOT-approved (American) AR-1 helmet will cost you from US$1499 (about A$2120).
It has technology similar to Google Glass. Both are hands free and can display vital information in front of the user without them having to take their gaze away from what they are doing.
The Skully AR-1 has a rear-view camera and navigation system that project information on to the LCD visor which can be lightened or darkened with a voice command.
The system also incorporates a conventional Bluetooth communication for listening to music and taking/making calls from your phone via its built-in, hands-free, voice-recognition technology.