The best-selling motorcycle-helmet decals at a popular Web site include fake bullet holes, skull and crossbones, the American flag -- and $1 stickers that say "DOT."

The latter's a problem for U.S. highway safety regulators, because fake Department of Transportation stickers can be used to counterfeit safety certification of cheap novelty motorcycle helmets, which they say are one cause of rising accident fatalities. So even though there is no federal helmet law, officials are proposing tough new labeling rules to protect riders of the more than 6.6 million registered motorcycles.

Wearing a federally certified helmet cuts the risk of dying in a crash by 37 percent, the Oct. 2 proposal says. The chances of a brain injury are three times more likely in a crash without a helmet. Wearing flimsy novelty helmets is a fashion statement to some, and only 20 states require all riders to wear a helmet that meets U.S. safety standards.

"It's a political statement against the helmet laws," said Eric Anderson, chairman of an industry helmet task force and vice president of sales and marketing for Scorpion Sports USA, a helmet maker in Lake Forest, Calif. "It's fashionable to be anti-helmet." It's time to stop the proliferation of unsafe helmets, he said.

To discourage the use of cool but counterfeit helmets, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, the owner of two Harleys herself and survivor of a 2005 accident, supports the new, larger label. Comments will be taken until Dec. 1.

The proposal calls for a DOT-symbol decal to be applied to the helmet beneath its clear coating, an attempt to make it more difficult to affix fake DOT certification stickers to helmets that don't meet safety standards. The manufacturer's name and helmet model would be added above the symbol and the word "certified'' below it.

The current U.S. standard, implemented in 1974, requires a DOT emblem on the rear of the helmet, indicating it passed certification tests. Manufacturer and model data are inside the helmet.

The new rule also would refine the tests manufacturers do to certify their helmets to meet DOT standards for impact, penetration and retention.

Regulators estimate it would cost manufacturers, who turn out 5.2 million certified helmets annually, only about 2 cents each or $100,000 to comply with the new rule. It would cost chopper drivers as much as $28.8 million if 639,220 of them traded in $15 novelty helmets for $60 certified ones. Overall, 346 to 649 lives could be saved each year if a 100 percent changeover occurred, regulators predict.

Motorcycle ridership has increased as gasoline prices have climbed and older riders, known as renaissance riders, returned to a youthful passion. Along with the popularity has come a more than doubling of fatal accidents.

There were 4,810 motorcycle-rider fatalities in 2006 compared with 2,116 in 1997. That amounts to 11 percent of all motor-vehicle fatalities, while motorcycles account for only 2.4 percent of registered vehicles and 0.3 percent of the miles traveled.

"I believe people who buy a helmet should know it was certified for three tests," said Peters, who owns a Fat Boy and a Road King, both made by Harley-Davidson Inc. of Milwaukee. "Some people don't realize their helmet doesn't meet these tests and some game the system.''

She said in an interview that wearing a certified helmet saved her from a serious head injury in the accident she had on a two-lane road north of Tucson in 2005. Peters suffered a broken collarbone.

Motorcycle groups said the time and money would be better spent, and more lives saved, through rider and motorist education.

"This is a personal vendetta by Mary Peters and the DOT," said Jeff Hennie, vice president of government relations for the Motorcycle Riders Foundation in Washington. He said the group of 250,000 riders is "100 percent pro-helmet and 100 percent anti-helmet laws.''

Dave Gibson, head of sales for Helmets Inc. in Birmingham, Alabama, said novelty helmets are preferred by some because they "look a thousand times better'' than a certified helmet. He said the market is flooded with fake certified helmets.

Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire are helmet-free states, with 27 others, including Pennsylvania, requiring helmet use for some riders, usually under an age limit.

Novelty helmets, which have thin protective liners, failed all the federal performance tests, said Stephen Kratzke, associate administrator for rulemaking at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"They are about as protective as a baseball hat," he said.

When police spot a helmet that doesn't look like the real thing, riders can claim they thought the DOT sticker meant it was certified. Sellers of the labels say it stands for "Doing Our Thing," not Department of Transportation.

"It makes it really hard to enforce helmet laws," said Kratzke. The goal of the new rule is "to make sure in helmet-law states it is easier for police to enforce the law."

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