Engraving livery cycle helmets with firm's initials could weaken the structure and cause failure in an accident, a top doctor has warned.

The alert from the California-based Snell Foundation over the practice of some livery firms of engraving hire helmets for ease of identification came after Dr. Joseph Froncioni contacted the labs to discuss helmet safety.

Dr. Froncioni -- a member of the Bermuda Medical Society's road safety sub-committee -- said researchers at the Snell Foundation were stunned when he told them some livery cycle operators in Bermuda cut their firm's initials into helmet shells.

He said: "As anybody in the business knows, as soon as you have a crack in the helmet, it invalidates the protective envelope effect a helmet has.

"When your head hits the kerb at 40 or 45 kilometres an hour, no-one can say whether it will work,'' he said.

"Certainly, the engineers at Snell said they had never heard of this before -- someone purposely abusing a helmet like this. They said you can't do this.'' But yesterday a spokeswoman for the cycle livery at Elbow Beach said she was convinced engraving was safe.

"I wouldn't do it if it wasn't -- the client comes first. And I wouldn't do anything which breaks the law.

"The Transport Control Department is also very much aware of what we do -- we are not the only ones who do it.'' The spokeswoman said a special tool was used and the engraving did not break the shell of the helmet. And she invited representatives of the BMS to check out the process for safety.

The claim over helmet safety came as Dr. Froncioni launched a bid to cut down death and serious head injuries by having crash helmets involved in cycle accidents tested at the prestigious Snell foundation labs.

Dr. Froncioni, an orthopaedic surgeon, said: "We would get top-of-the-line analysis of helmets.

"Hopefully, the fruits of this project will allow us to make recommendations to Government about reviewing standards of helmet quality.'' The legal standards for crash helmets on the Island meant "tremendous variability'' in protection.

He added: "The Transport Control Department doesn't have hard, solid, up-to-date rules.

"There are all kinds of helmets around -- from very good quality to really crummy.

"A lot of the ones livery cycle operators give to tourists, for example, aren't very good.'' But now Dr. Froncioni has contacted the Snell Foundation -- set up by the world's biggest helmet manufacturer -- in California and the lab agreed to subject helmets involved in accidents to hi-tech tests for free.

The move comes as part of a drive to cut the horrendous toll of injuries on Bermuda's roads.

The King Edward VII Memorial Hospital sees almost 50 head injuries a year serious enough for admission to the Intensive Care Unit.

And there are many more less serious injuries -- most to motorcyclists who were wearing crash helmets.

Dr. Froncioni said: "What we are hoping to do is decrease the incidence of head injuries -- one way of doing that is to increase the quality of helmets.'' He added the social cost of head injuries was huge -- as was the cost of immediate treatment and long-term care for people brain-damaged as a result of accidents.

Dr. Francioni said the BMS road safety group had contacted Police Commissioner Colin Coxall and he had given his personal backing to the research project and TCD were also interested in any findings from the research.