Technical Paper
Technical Demands on Safety in the Design of Crash Helmets for Biomechanical Analysis of Real Accident Situations
1991-10-01
912911
Crash helmets for motorcyclists are subject to certain test specifications by national and international reglements. For the European community the ECE-R 22 is valid, in America the tests are made according to SNELL as well as FMVSS 218. In all test procedures the protruding stability, the form stability of the carrier device and the shock absorption is tested. This study investigate impact situations in real accidents. The impact situation of 598 analysed crash helmets reveals that only 57.5% of all impact points are situated within the protection region of helmets defined by ECE, 14.1% in the marginal region and 28.2% clearly outside this protected region. The highest percentage of impacts occurres in the chin region, which is not taken into consideration in test definitions ECE as well as FMVSS. The so-called ‘double-impact’, which is a base of test procedures and induce therefore, is not confirmed in accident reality.