Your email to ASTM may just cause them to create a standard, and then you won't be able to use bicycle helmets, Crasche bands, Ice Halo, Force Field Headband Rib Cap, eetc. Which will make other figure skaters unhappy.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I very much doubt that these standards are based on real world tests, using real people and real accidents.
So, do you think the law will pass, and will NJ start a trend?
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Should anyone want to fight the law, for any reason, try looking for statistics on how injury rates relate to helmet use. E.g.,
http://www.nata.org/sites/default/files/HeadDownContactAndSpearingInTackleFB.pdf http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/01/09/concussion-epidemic-should-helmets-be-banned-from-football/ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/sports/on-slopes-rise-in-helmet-use-but-no-decline-in-brain-injuries.html?_r=0 http://www.scarlettlawgroup.com/blogs/position-paper-asserts-helmets-mouth-guards-prevent-concussions-sports William E. Prentice, Daniel D. Arnheim,
Arnheim's Principles of Athletic Training, which used to be the primary text book for certified athletic trainers (I don't know if it still is), said (I don't have the exact quote handy) that stated that introducing helmets into a sport always dramatically increases injury rates (but typically reduces death rates), probably because people become more careless when they trust helmets to protect them.
If that turns out not to be the current main textbook,
This study cited on the National Athletic Trainers' Association website, says somewhat the same thing, for concussions - but still recommends helmet use.
The committee found little evidence that current sports helmet designs reduce the risk of concussions. It stressed that properly fitted helmets, face masks, and mouth guards should still be used, because they reduce the risk of other injuries -- such as skull fractures; bleeding inside the skull; and injuries to the eyes, face, and mouth. The marketing for some protective devices designed for youth athletes, such as mouth guards and headbands for soccer, has advertised that these devices reduce concussion risk, but there is a lack of scientific evidence to support such claims, the committee said.
In the case of figure skating, I suspect helmets would increase how often people try admittedly non-standard moves like back flips, head bangers, etc., which risk banging your head on the ice.
There are also articles which indicate that to some extant, imperfectly fit helmets often cause injuries, though I haven't looked at the literature in detail. Realistically, most people won't bother to do the kind of modifications (especially, for group lessons, rentals, etc.) needed to make helmets fit well.
My personal belief is that if you know how to fall properly, a helmet increases injury rates during falls on the ice, because it gets in the way and reduces your range of motion, and on a backwards fall, tucking your head a little might no longer be sufficient to avoid contact with the ice - but I have no statistics to back that up, and many figure skaters don't practice deliberate falls much.
If we did want a well designed figure skating helmet, I suggest we would want a hard shell and a face mask to prevent sharp injuries from other people's skates skating into you, padded on the inside by closed cell foam (like carpet padding), to absorb impact, with good ways to adjust fit, and a reliable strap to hold it on securely.
But realistically, most figure skaters won't want to wear helmets for reasons unrelated to safety issues. For example, they may feel that your technique may be learned biased by the weight and moments of inertia of the helmet, which would make it harder to learn proper technique when not using helmets, and that it would therefore make American skaters less competitive.
In addition, they will say that helmets look "dorky".
I personally think gloves prevent more injuries than helmets.