Crash test data for helmets

apple eater

I am looking for data on the effect of wearing a helmet on push bike. Specifically impact data at varying speeds and the helmets effectiveness at injury prevention/limitation at those speeds.

I realise there will be varying factors such as helmet design etc but without getting too technical, just yet, i need this information.

Just to mention i am not interested in the whole you should / shouldn't wear a helmet arguement as that's a matter of personal choice.

cooldad

I don't think there is such a thing. Just a minimum standard.

Horton

I would imagine every helmet manufacturer has much of the data you're after, although, being it will be data derived from test dummies, the "effectiveness" of injury prevention/limitation will be somewhat subjective.

I would also imagine that manufacturers will keep this data to themselves as they probably don't want to make it too easy for their competition to see what designs/materials give rise to what lab-test results, but as Cooldad says there is a minimum standard that they have to comply with to be legally sold as a bike helmet, but that minimum is pretty low compared with say SNELL/ANSI to name the couple I know of.

supersonic

I have seen some off the SNELL/ANSI parameters ie a weight dropped from a certain height onto a helmet, on a concrete block. But I don't know much more than that or if are tested to higher degrees. One of them replicates a 12mph crash onto a kerb.

rockmonkeysc

I know helmets for other purposes are subjected to a pass or fail test. They test them with one impact force, if it passes then thats the test over.

batmo

The British Standards Institution (BSI) are a major provider of testing to the protective headwear industry. BS EN 1078: 2012 is the standard for cycle helmets.

cooldad

But they don't publish any comparative results. Just a pass.
Motorcycle helmets have the Sharps test - not sure how much use it is but I did use it to pick my helmets. Cheapish but 5 stars.
http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/

apple eater

BS EN 1078:2012+A1:2012

these are something that i would like to read but i'm not paying £76 for the privilige.

What i'm looking for is a speed test impact and the results with a more simplistic explanation of the results.

I've read the weight and distance drop etc but i am unable to equate this into what i need to know.

apple eater

currently reading

http://www.helmets.org/limits.htm

cooldad

I would assume the manufacturers have data, but I would also assume you won't see it.

What are you trying to do?

apple eater

Following a conversation earlier whereby the other person stated that a helmet was useless in an accident over 10mph and you might as well not wear anything.

This is the kind of ignorance of the importance of at least some skull protection that annoys me.

Anyhow, rather than get on my high horse and go down the helmets should be worn by all on a bike and end up getting nowhere in that debate i thought i would research and provide fact rather than urban myth.

Seems like the page i posted up there ^^^^ has as close to what i need for now as i'm going to find.

rockmonkeysc

I have mashed my head in to a tree at well over 10mph, probably more than double and I can assure you it did work. It was wrecked (split in two) and my head was fine. A bit dizzy but undamaged.
I would have though most cycling accidents are over 10mph, less than that you're unlikely to fall off.

apple eater

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I have mashed my head in to a tree at well over 10mph, probably more than double and I can assure you it did work. It was wrecked (split in two) and my head was fine. A bit dizzy but undamaged.
I would have though most cycling accidents are over 10mph, less than that you're unlikely to fall off.

My worst accident was an OTB and landed on my back in a pile of football sized boulders. I also smashed the the lower part of the back of my head on a rock. The lower exposed padded part of the helmet definitly absorbed some of the impact energy and saved me from something worse than a mild concussion. I was a bit heavier then at about 15 1/2 stone and came off following a drop in to a 2 foot jump that i totally screwed up. Hence the accident.

So yes i think they do protect against such higher speed accidents but i want to back the belief up with evidence of sorts.

cooldad

Do a practical test. Suggest your friend wears a helmet and runs into a wall. Then repeats without the helmet.

apple eater

cooldad wrote:

Do a practical test. Suggest your friend wears a helmet and runs into a wall. Then repeats without the helmet.

Unfortunately he is actually a fairly intelligent and decent bloke so may not actually be up for that, no matter how amusing it may be to prove the point in such a direct way.

Ferrals

Now that so many people have strava/ speedometers etc it would be interesting to collate data on real-world crashes. You could do something on speed of crash, helmet type, helmet damage, and a simple concussion score.
In academia, a buzzword at the moment is 'citizen science,' whereby the public are our data collectors, and this would be an interesting application. Clearly the error levels would huge but if you got a large enough number of respondents it could be interesting.

CitizenLee

Assuming this friend is a roadie?

rockmonkeysc

Speed of crash may not relate to the speed of the head impact.

Ferrals

I completely agree, to get really useful data you'd want people fitted with accelerometers on their helmets doing their best to knock themselves while hammering downhill. I can't seem many volunteering though!!

rockmonkeysc

Ferrals wrote:

I completely agree, to get really useful data you'd want people fitted with accelerometers on their helmets doing their best to knock themselves while hammering downhill. I can't seem many volunteering though!!

I would volunteer, I will be crashing anyway so might as well be useful at the same time.