By Gift Briton
Helmets remain one of the recommendations for ensuring protection during crashes, however their cost is making them unattainable for many Kenyan riders.
Researchers have found that additional charges along the supply chain contribute significantly to making standard helmets unaffordable.
A new study by the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety traced the price of an LS2 Rapid motorcycle helmet from manufacture to retail in Kenya, alongside a separate price journey in Mexico. In Kenya, researchers estimated the manufacturer price at US$23.25 (about KSh3,000) compared with the lowest retail price they found in Nairobi, US$93 (KSh12,000).
The biggest additions came after manufacture. Trading company costs accounted for an estimated 28.8% of the retail price, while import duties, fees and destination taxes accounted for another 34.9%. Together, the two components made up 63.7% of the final price, or roughly KSh7,600.
That gap matters in a country where motorcycle crashes continue to kill large numbers of riders and passengers. National Transport and Safety Authority data show that 1,148 motorcyclists and 432 pillion passengers died on Kenyan roads in 2025, alongside 4,458 road deaths recorded that year.
“Riders are expected to wear helmets, but wearing one is only part of the equation. Governments and other system actors must make sure that the helmets people can buy will protect them, and that safe helmets are within reach,” said Lotte Brondum, executive director of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety.
The distinction between a helmet and a safe helmet matters. The World Health Organization says correct use of a safe, quality helmet can reduce the risk of death in a crash by more than six times and the risk of brain injury by up to 74%.
The Alliance defines standard helmets in the study as those meeting ECE or DOT standards. Yet the safer option may be harder to reach when prices rise.
Earlier laboratory testing commissioned by the Alliance examined 11 helmets bought from shops and riders in 10 countries, including Kenya. None passed all three basic safety tests, while only one passed a single test.
The price study offers a different part of the picture: the cost of getting a standard helmet from manufacture to a Kenyan rider.
Researchers estimated that the manufacturer’s share was 25% of the retail price. Freight and insurance added 3.2%, while the retailer or distributor accounted for an estimated 8.1%. The remaining costs were concentrated in the trading company and import chain.
Retailers told researchers they bought helmets from Chinese trading companies that consolidated orders and handled shipping and customs. The arrangement allows retailers to buy smaller quantities than manufacturers’ minimum orders, but adds another layer of cost.
The researchers say larger, pooled orders could lower the unit price. That could come through large private transport providers or public procurement programmes buying helmets in greater quantities rather than leaving individual retailers to negotiate small orders.
But the researchers caution that the figures are estimates. They could not obtain the manufacturer’s actual factory-gate price, while some supply-chain costs were commercially confidential. They triangulated information from retail visits, street observations, interviews with retailers, manufacturers, distributors and rider groups, published research, government and trade data, and assigned confidence levels to the estimates.
The Kenya findings also differ from those in Mexico, where the study found a different cost structure. In Mexico, the main addition to the manufacturer price came from the retailer’s margin. The contrast suggests there is no single charge or actor responsible for making helmets expensive. Costs accumulate at different points in different markets.
For Kenya, that puts a specific question on the road-safety agenda: what can be removed from the price between the factory and the rider without compromising helmet quality?
The Alliance recommends making helmet affordability part of the wider road-safety conversation. Greater transparency about what drives the price of standard helmets, it says, could allow governments, manufacturers, importers, retailers, NGOs and other stakeholders to identify where costs can be reduced and develop solutions collectively.
