Today, helmets for all

The vault was no record attempt. It was not even Dare's personal best. The jump was sadly unforgettable because Dare missed and was killed when he landed head first in the steel takeoff box that vaulters use to catapult themselves into the air.

After years of debate on ways to make the sport safer, a standards panel approved in May the first specifications for a pole vaulting helmet, spurring production of several models.

In the last few years, that same panel, the American Society for Testing and Materials, has approved headgear standards for martial arts, short-track speed skating, horseback riding, bull riding and soccer -- a total of 13 helmets since 2000.

This is in addition to headgear already on the market for bicycling, motorcycle riding, in-line skating, skiing, baseball and football. Call it the "helmetization" of America. And blame it on an increasingly safety-conscious world in which nearly every sport or recreational activity that poses a head-injury threat -- even a minor one -- is sized up for a helmet.

Head injury experts worry that some new helmets have come on the market without empirical data to show the need for or the effectiveness of the headgear.

"There is limited data for some of these kinds of sports," said Dr. Frederick P. Rivara, a pediatrics professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine who has studied helmet use among youngsters. "Before we push these kinds of helmets we need to have an idea on the effectiveness."

Dr. Tony Strickland, director of the Sports Concussion Institute at the Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center in Marina del Rey, shares the same concerns, adding that poorly designed helmets could interfere with an athlete's hearing and vision.

"Some might argue that some protection is better than none," he says. "That's not always the case."

America's helmet movement began 20 years ago when states and local governments started adopting bicycle helmet laws targeting teenage riders. It was prompted by a national campaign led by parents and doctors and fueled by a New England Journal of Medicine study that said 85% of bicycle head injuries could be prevented by wearing a helmet.