Helmets for preventing injury in motorcycle riders

Background: Motorcycle crash victims form a high proportion of those killed or injured in road traffic accidents. Injuries to the head, following motorcycle crashes, are a common cause of severe morbidity and mortality. It seems intuitive that helmets should protect against head injuries but it has been argued that motorcycle helmet use decreases rider vision and increases neck injuries. This review will collate the \u27current available evidence on helmets and their impact on mortality, and head, face and neck injuries following motorcycle crashes.Objectives: To quantify the effectiveness of wearing a motorcycle helmet in reducing mortality and head and neck injury following motorcycle crashes.Search strategy: Databases including the Cochrane Injuries Group Specialised Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library issue 1,2003), MEDLINE (January 1966 to February 2003), EMBASE (January 1985 to February 2003), CINAHL (January 1982 to February 2003), IRRD (International Road Research Documentation), TRANSDOC, TRIS (Transport Research Information Service), ATRI (Australian Transport Index) (1976 to Feb 2003), Science Citation Index were searched for relevant articles. Web sites of traffic and road accident research bodies including government agencies were also searched. Reference lists from topic reviews, identified studies and bibliographies were examined for relevant articles.Selection criteria: We considered for inclusion studies that investigated a population of motorcycle riders who had crashed, examining helmet use as an intervention and with outcomes that included one or more of the following: death, head, neck or facial injury. Studies included any that compared an intervention and control group and, therefore, included any randomised controlled trials, non-randomised controlled trials, cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies. Ecological and case series studies were excluded.Data collection and analysis: Two reviewers independently screened reference lists for eligible articles. Two reviewers independently assessed articles for inclusion criteria. Data were abstracted by two independent reviewers using a standard abstraction form.Main results: Fifty-three observational studies were identified of varying quality. Despite methodological differences there was a remarkable consistency in results, particularly for mortality and head injury outcomes. Motorcycle helmets appear to reduce the risk of mortality although, due to heterogeneity in study design, an overall estimate of effect was not calculated. There was some evidence that the effect of helmets on mortality is modified by speed. Motorcycle helmets were found to reduce the risk of head injury and from five well-conducted studies the risk reduction is estimated to be 72% (OR 0.28, 95%CI 0.23,0.35). Insufficient evidence was found to estimate the effect of motorcycle helmets compared with no helmet on facial or neck injuries. However, studies of poorer quality suggest that helmets have no effect on the risk of neck injuries and are protective for facial injury. There was insufficient evidence to demonstrate whether differences in helmet type confer more or less advantage in injury reduction.Conclusions: Motorcycle helmets reduce the risk of mortality and head injury in motorcycle riders who crash, although the former effect may be modified by other crash factors such as speed. Further well-conducted research is required to determine the effects of helmets and different helmet types on mortalIty, head, neck and facial injuries. However, the findings suggest that global efforts to reduce road traffic injuries may be facilitated by increasing helmet use by motorcyclists.<br /

Identification of Risk Factors Associated with Motorcycle-Related Fatalities in Ohio

Out of the 7,138,476 motorcycles operating on U.S. roads, 346,925 were registered in the state of Ohio in the year 2007. Although motorcycles represent only 2.8% of all registered vehicles in the state of Ohio, motorcycling accounts for more than 13% of Ohio highway traffic fatalities. Since 2005, Ohio has had a distressing distinction of being among the fifteen states that have sustained more than half of all motorcycle fatalities recorded in the USA (NHTSA 2007; NHTSA 2008a). For the past ten years, the overall motorcycle crash fatalities have been increasing while the motor vehicle occupant crash fatalities have been almost constant for both the state of Ohio and the United States. In 2007 the fatality rate per registered vehicle for motorcyclist was about six times that of passenger vehicle occupants (III 2009). From 1997 to 2007, motorcycle fatalities have increased by 144 percent (III 2009). Of the 873 motorcyclist fatalities that occurred between years 2003 and 2008, only 25% were reported wearing helmets. Although several risk factors affecting fatal motorcycle crashes have been documented in the U.S., problems specific to fatal crashes involving Ohio motorcyclists have not yet been studied. … The primary objective of this study was to identify risk factors related to motorcycle crashes that result into fatalities or severe injuries in the state of Ohio using both the ordered probit and the multinomial probit models. The extent and the characteristics of fatal motorcycle collisions were also examined. Understanding how the risk factors are related to the occurrence of a crash is critical for road safety efforts, especially in the identification of appropriate countermeasures to reduce motorcycle related fatalities and severe incapacitating injuries

A review of cyclist head injury, impact characteristics and the implications for helmet assessment methods

Head injuries are common for cyclists involved in collisions. Such collision scenarios result in a range of injuries, with different head impact speeds, angles, locations, or surfaces. A clear understanding of these collision characteristics is vital to design high fidelity test methods for evaluating the performance of helmets. We review literature detailing real-world cyclist collision scenarios and report on these key characteristics. Our review shows that helmeted cyclists have a considerable reduction in skull fracture and focal brain pathologies compared to non-helmeted cyclists, as well as a reduction in all brain pathologies. The considerable reduction in focal head pathologies is likely to be due to helmet standards mandating thresholds of linear acceleration. The less considerable reduction in diffuse brain injuries is likely to be due to the lack of monitoring head rotation in test methods. We performed a novel meta-analysis of the location of 1809 head impacts from ten studies. Most studies showed that the side and front regions are frequently impacted, with one large, contemporary study highlighting a high proportion of occipital impacts. Helmets frequently had impact locations low down near the rim line. The face is not well protected by most conventional bicycle helmets. Several papers determine head impact speed and angle from in-depth reconstructions and computer simulations. They report head impact speeds from 5 to 16 m/s, with a concentration around 5 to 8 m/s and higher speeds when there was another vehicle involved in the collision. Reported angles range from 10° to 80° to the normal, and are concentrated around 30°-50°. Our review also shows that in nearly 80% of the cases, the head impact is reported to be against a flat surface. This review highlights current gaps in data, and calls for more research and data to better inform improvements in testing methods of standards and rating schemes and raise helmet safety

The Challenges Facing Autonomous Vehicles and The Progress in Addressing Them

Autonomous vehicles are an emerging technology that faces challenges, both technical and socioeconomic. This paper first addresses specific technical challenges, such as parsing visual data, communicating with other entities, and making decisions based on environmental knowledge. The technical challenges are to be addressed by the fields of image processing, Vehicle to Everything Communication (V2X), and decision-making systems. Non-technical challenges such as ethical decision making, social acceptance, and economic pushback are also discussed. Ethical decision making is discussed in the framework of deontology vs utilitarianism, while social acceptance of utilitarian autonomous vehicles is also investigated. Last, the likely economic impact is described

Violation of Traffic Rules and Detection of Sign Boards

Today's society has seen a sharp rise in the number of accidents caused by drivers failing to pay attention to traffic signals and regulations. Road accidents are increasing daily as the number of automobiles rises. By using synthesis data for training, which are produced from photos of road traffic signs, we are able to overcome the challenges of traffic sign identification and decrease violations of traffic laws by identifying triple-riding, no-helmet, and accidents, which vary for different nations and locations. This technique is used to create a database of synthetic images that may be used in conjunction with a convolution neural network (CNN) to identify traffic signs, triple riding, no helmet use, and accidents in a variety of view lighting situations. As a result, there will be fewer accidents, and the vehicle operator&nbsp;will be able to concentrate more on continuing to drive but instead of checking each individual road sign. Also, simplifies the process to recognize&nbsp;triple driving, accidents, but also incidents when a helmet was not used

Use of low-density, reticulated, elastomeric foam impregnated with Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids to design an impact absorption material

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-268).The development of new threats in recent conflicts, such as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), requires the development of improved protection for US soldiers. The development of improved materials for helmets, in particular, is motivated by the social and economic costs of head injury. A versatile liner, adaptable to different types of helmets, with different constraints, would be useful. In this thesis, we first review the statistics related to head injuries from motor vehicle and recreational accidents and then describe the state of the art of current helmet design. An experimental study of the response of a widely used helmet liner material (polystyrene foam) and a new potential liner material (low-density, reticulated, elastomeric foam impregnated with Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids) under impact shows some complementarities and leads to the concept of a composite material that would take advantage of the properties of the two materials. To conduct an extensive design analysis, comprehensive models are developed to model the behavior of each material under a wide range of impact energies. A complete model for the composite bilayer of the two materials is then compared to experimental data; the model gives a good description of the data. Using these results, three case studies are developed for a motorcycle helmet, a football helmet and a military helmet. The three case studies show a variety of constraints in term of thickness of the liner and impacting energies. Simulations are conducted using the models developed to indentify potential designs that would meet the requirement in term of peak linear acceleration (PLA) and in term of the specific constraints of each type of helmet. Finally, in an experimental study, some of the proposed designs are tested for repeated loading. The proposed designs enhance the level of protection in term of peak linear acceleration and show promising behavior under repeated impact testing.by Yves Matton.S.M

Future research directions in injury biomechanics and passive safety research

There has been an increasing trend within the safety environment for funding to be directed towards applied research or towards research developing commercially-exploitable systems. Funding mechanisms such as the EU’s 6th Framework Programme and many national programmes focus on research of likely immediate social benefit, reflecting the use of public finances. These programmes will continue to play an important role in funding safety research, but they typically do not have guidelines specifically directed towards fundamental research questions. Additionally, impartial advice is not always available to help programme managers identify research priorities. This review of biomechanics and passive safety research is intended for use by researchers who may be contemplating research in certain areas and wish independent guidance on specific research questions. It is also intended for use by research funding groups and programme managers who would like impartial guidance on basic research to be supported. It covers engineering research directed at improving vehicles and safety systems for all types of road user. It includes the main research and development tools such as dummy development and humanoid modelling and the important area of crash injury data

The Significance of Injuries and Anatomical Patterns of Trauma in Pedestrian and Cyclist Fatalities and their Association with Motor Vehicle Collision Dynamics and Post-Collision Kinematics

Deaths from motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are a major global health concern, with over 1.35 million fatalities reported annually by the United Nations. More than half involve pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. Post-mortem examinations by pathologists determine the cause of death and mechanisms of injury and play a significant role in the investigation of the deaths of vulnerable road users. The purpose of this study was to understand the injury patterns sustained by pedestrians and cyclists fatally injured in motor vehicle impacts. This study reviews the development of injury patterns described in the medical literature and identifies their limitations in the context of the current motor vehicle fleet, which includes various types of vehicles such as vans, sports utility, and pickup trucks. The main objectives of this research were to determine injury patterns in pedestrians and cyclists killed in MVCs and compare them with the historical or “classical triads”. The study also aimed to investigate factors related to pedestrian and cyclist kinematics, MVC dynamics, and vehicle type, maneuver, and speed on injury patterns. Multivariate logistic regression models were developed to identify variables that were associated with specific serious to maximal injuries. Data from 766 post-mortems done between 2013 and 2019 in Ontario were collected. There were 670 pedestrian fatalities and 96 cyclist fatalities. Distinct injury patterns emerged based on age groups, kinematics, vehicle type, vehicle maneuver, and speed. The findings highlighted variations in injury patterns between children, youth, adults, and the elderly, emphasizing the importance of considering age-specific factors when studying trauma. Based on the multivariate logistic regression models, recommendations have been made to assist pathologists, coroners, and police collision reconstructionists in their analysis of fatal pedestrian and cyclist-MVCs. Overall, this research contributes to a better understanding of the specific fatal injury patterns sustained by pedestrians and cyclists involved in MVCs. By considering collision dynamics, vehicle type, and other relevant factors, this study provides valuable insights for assisting MVC reconstruction and investigation, and postmortem assessment supporting future motor vehicle research and regulation in mitigating and preventing serious injuries