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I am looking at buying a helmet meeting ASTM F 2040, CPSC and EN 1078 safty requirements. Are these reasonable standards and will they protect my head in an axcident?
Are these standards recognised in Canada? If I am involved in an accident and if I am wearing a helmet meeting these standards will I be found to be partially neglegent?
Those are reasonable standards that will protect your head in an accident. Comparable to the Snell B-90 standards. Snell B-95 standards is higher and would provide more protection.
ASTM F2040, for instance, is a "snow sports" helmet standard based on the same testing as the ASTM bicycle helmet standards with some additional cold-conditions tests added in.
Canada has its own bicycle helmet standard, CAN-CSA-D113.2-M.
You have to pay to get a copy of the actual standard, but this site has a nice comparison of helmet standards.
As far as the Canadian tort law part of your question, I don't think we can really answer that.
Ontario specifically mentions the following standards on the MTO website.
Canadian Standard Association: CAN/CSA D113.2-M89
Snell Memorial Foundation: Snell B90, Snell B90S, or Snell N94
American National Standard Institute: ANSI Z90.4-1984
American Society For Testing and Materials: ASTMF1447-94
British Standards Institute: BS6863:1989
Standards Association of Australia: AS2063.2-1990
It doesn't appear as thou the standards you listed show up on that list.
The ASTM F2040 you listed is specifically for snow-sports, and would most likely not be "legal" for use as a bicycle helmet in many jurisdictions that require bicycle helmets. Although, as I mentioned in my comments, many places don't require a helmet at all. If you want to remain "legal" I would go for an approved bicycle helmet under the standard I listed (check your province's regulartions) and to with a skull cap to keep your head warm. I've been using something similar for the last few years and they work great. If there is no helmet requirement in you province, you can wear whatever you want on your head. Those snow sport helmets would probably be pretty safe. Although some say that bike helmets are better designed to slide across pavement in the event of an accident.
More Info
The EN 1078 standard is (according to wikipedia) identical to BS EN 1078:1997 standard which replaces British Standards Institute: BS6863:1989 which is the one listed on the MTO website. So it appears that this helmet is rated for cycling. However I'm guessing that the MTO website is out of date, since it references a standard which has been replaced.
