Head and neck dynamics in helmeted Hybrid III impacts

Pang, T. Y.; Thai, K. T.; McIntosh, A. S.

Affiliations

¹School of Risk and Safety Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Abstract and keywords

A rig was developed to permit impacts on a Hybrid III 50th-percentile male anthropomorphic test device (ATD) at selected velocities and head imp;ct orientations in guided free-fall. This is to investigate the ability of a bicycle helmet to reduce angular head acceleration and subsequent brain injury in crashes, as well as the effects of helmets on neck injury. Helmets were able to reduce head linear acceleration significantly and angular accelerations in lateral impacts. There were no significant reductions in biomechanical predictors of neck injury risk in helmeted impacts as compared to unhelmeted impacts. At worst bicycle helmets do not appear to exacerbate head injury risks arising from angular acceleration or neck injury risks.

Keywords: bicycles, drop tests, helmets, Hybrid III, injury criteria

Cited Works (1)

Year	Entry
2002	Viano DC, Davidsson J. Neck displacements of volunteers, BioRID P3 and Hybrid III in rear impacts: implications to whiplash assessment by a neck displacement criterion (NDC). Traffic Inj Prev. 2002;3(2):105-116.