A NEW LABORATORY RIG FOR EVALUATING HELMETS SUBJECT TO OBLIQUE IMPACTS

Several thousand people are killed in Europe each year in accidents involving motorized two-wheeled vehicles. It has become obvious that there is a need to improve current but outmoded helmet-testing regulations, as the current standard test procedures do not adequately represent real motorcycle accidents. This study presents a new test rig that is one possible way of testing helmets in a more realistic manner. The new test rig can be used to provide useful data at speeds of up to 50 km/h and with impact angles varying from purely tangential to purely radial. The rig appears to provide an accurate method for measuring accelerations in an oblique impact to a helmet. In order to obtain a good level of repeatability in oblique impact testing, it is crucial that the helmet be fixed to the head in the exact same way in each individual test. The test rig used has shown that this type of rig can be used to compare helmet designs, and it therefore is able to contribute to achieving safer helmets.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/49192340
• Corporate Authors:

  Taylor & Francis

  4 Park Square, Milton Park
  Abingdon,   United Kingdom  OX14 4RN
• Authors:
  • AARE, M
  • Halldin, P
• Publication Date: 2003

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 240-248
• Serial:
  • Traffic Injury Prevention
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis
  • ISSN: 1538-9588
  • Serial URL: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/15389588.html

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash tests; Design; Head motion range; Motorcycle crashes; Motorcycle helmets; Rotation; Testing equipment
• Uncontrolled Terms: Impact angle
• Geographic Terms: Europe
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00963987
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 4 2003 12:00AM