The correlation of damage to crash helmets with injury, and the implications for injury tolerance criteria

Hopes, P. D.; Chinn, B. P.

By replicating the damage to the helmets of motorcyclists involved in accidents, the severity of impact can be established. Combining the clinical results of the accident with the impact severity allows the reliability of Head Injury Criterion (HIC) as an injury predictor to be investtgated. Expertmental data from the study reported here has been combined with comparable data from other researchers to indicate that there is a 8.5% probability of death at an HIC value of 1000, 31% at 2000 and 65% at 4000.

Year

Entry

1970

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1984

Vallee H, Hartemann F, Thomas C, Tarrière C, Patel A, Got C. The fracturing of helmet shells. In: Proceedings of the 1984 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 4-6, 1984; Delft, The Netherlands.99-109.

1957

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1986

Chamouard F, Tarriere C, Got C, Guillon F, Patel A, Hureau J. Relationship between some biomechanical and dimensional characteristics of the skull and the risk of cerebral injuries. In: Proceedings of the 1986 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 2-4, 1986; Zurich, Switzerland.133-152.

1984

Otte D, Jessl P, Suren EG. Impact points and resultant injuries to the head of motor-cyclists involved in accidents, with and without crash helmets. In: Proceedings of the 1984 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 4-6, 1984; Delft, The Netherlands.47-64.