Citation

Snively GG. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1959; 3: 5-8.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1959, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

In 1957 a group of sports car enthusiasts in California established a non-profit, independent organization for the purpose of testing safety devices used in sports car racing. This organization, the Snell Memorial Foundation, soon found its work spreading to areas other than the first field attacked, that of testing racing crash helmets. As has so often occurred in the developmental history of things automotive, the germs of ideas initiating in the sphere of competition expanded omni-directionally to areas of application far beyond racing itself.

In the parameter of head protection alone, applications of data initiating from the Foundation's studies on racing helmets have been made to the needs of air and ground personnel of the Armed Forces, motorcycle police, civilians driving the nation's highways, American football and hockey players, skiers, jockeys, Little League baseball players, and even children with muscular incoordination due to cerebral palsy.

Three major divisions of the Snell Foundation's efforts have developed as the broad scope of its potential role in the furtherance of safety began to be understood: 1) development of standards, and the testing and certification of products; 2) development of a research program; and 3) establishment of a central agency for collection and analysis of specific system accident data.