Findings on Risk Management from S.J. Bonin and Colleagues Provide New Insights (The effect of motorcycle helmet fit on estimating head impact…

Insurance Weekly News

Findings on Risk Management from S.J. Bonin and Colleagues Provide New Insights (The effect of motorcycle helmet fit on estimating head impact kinematics from residual liner crush)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Researchers detail new data in Risk Management. According to news reporting originating in Laguna Hills, California, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "Proper helmet fit is important for optimizing head protection during an impact, yet many motorcyclists wear helmets that do not properly fit their heads. The goals of this study are i) to quantify how a mismatch in headform size and motorcycle helmet size affects headform peak acceleration and head injury criteria (HIC), and ii) to determine if peak acceleration, HIC, and impact speed can be estimated from the foam liner's maximum residual crush depth or residual crush volume."

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research, "Shorty-style helmets (4 sizes of a single model) were tested on instrumented headforms (4 sizes) during linear impacts between 2.0 and 10.5 m/s to the forehead region. Helmets were CT scanned to quantify residual crush depth and volume. Separate linear regression models were used to quantify how the response variables (peak acceleration (g), HIC, and impact speed (m/s)) were related to the predictor variables (maximum crush depth (mm), crush volume (cm(3)), and the difference in circumference between the helmet and headform (cm)). Overall, we found that increasingly oversized helmets reduced peak headform acceleration and HIC for a given impact speed for maximum residual crush depths less than 7.9 mm and residual crush volume less than 40 cm3. Below these levels of residual crush, we found that peak headform acceleration, HIC, and impact speed can be estimated from a helmet's residual crush."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Above these crush thresholds, large variations in headform kinematics are present, possibly related to densification of the foam liner during the impact."

For more information on this research see: The effect of motorcycle helmet fit on estimating head impact kinematics from residual liner crush. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2017;106():315-326. Accident Analysis and Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis and Prevention - www.journals.elsevier.com/accident-analysis-and-prevention/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting S.J. Bonin, MEA Forens Engineers & Scientists, Laguna Hills, CA 92603, United States. Additional authors for this research include J.C. Gardiner, A. Onar-Thomas, S.S. Asfour and G.P. Siegmund.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2017.06.015. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Laguna Hills, California, United States, North and Central America, Risk Management.