Starting points for this study are accident statistics and indepth accident investigation. Motorcycle/car accidents are complex and difficult to analyse, thus more tests are necessary to get a deeper understanding of this type of impact.

Statistics tell us what the most hazardous collision types are between motorcycles and passenger cars. Accident investigations and medical accident research show that many helmets used by motorcycle riders are not very efficent in head protection.

Intention of this investigation is to describe and analyse two major type of accidents, intersection and head-on collision. During impact tests with instrumented dummies, different drivers position, fuel tank shapes and handle bar types were investigated. In order to evaluate the energy absorption characteristics of helmets, high-speed films and acceleration data are used. HIC values are computed, trajectories of motorcycle riders are drawn, impact time- histories are compared and head impact locations addressed, in order to draw conclusions.

Furthermore the protection capacity of helmets was studied in more detail in pendulum impacts with dummy heads. Results will give hints to improve the damping characteristic of helmets.