Motorcycle protective clothing: Are stars better than standards?

Little information is available to Australian riders regarding the likely level of protection
provided by different brands and types of protective clothing. Australian manufacturers and
importers are not subject to any mandatory standards in relation to protective clothing except
for helmets. This paper presents the results of the first stage of investigating the possibility of
developing a model for a safety ?star rating? system for protective clothing. Later stages are
proposed to include a market research study and a research study into the feasibility of
implementing a ?star rating? system for protective clothing. It is considered that mandatory
standards such as those in Europe are unlikely to bring about a marked improvement in
motorcycle protective clothing without substantial allocation of resources to enforcement of
the standard which has not occurred in Europe and is unlikely to occur in Australia. Therefore
two models for a star rating system are proposed: a voluntary star rating system and a system
in which the accrediting body purchases and tests garments and publishes the safety ratings
(analogous to the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP)). It is proposed that a
star rating would be based on safety performance, weather protection and ergonomic
performance. One of the issues to be addressed in the next stage of this research is whether
the star rating should be presented as an overall score, or whether riders should be provided
with the star ratings for the individual criteria. If an overall star rating was chosen, then how
the results from the different tests were combined would need to be considered.