Head Injury Risks and Countermeasures for a Bicyclist Impacted by a Passenger Vehicle

• The potential injury reducing benefits by a bicyclist helmet and a vehicle mounted bicyclist protectionairbag (BPA) was evaluated by means of human body model simulations. The human body model SAFER HBM waspositioned on a bicycle and impacted by a passenger vehicle in 40 km/h. Three conditions were evaluated; withoutcountermeasure, with helmet and helmet together with bicyclist protection airbag (BPA). Head injury risk wasevaluated by means of predicted HIC15, BrIC and strain in the brain.The impact conditions caused different impact points on the vehicle, windscreen and A-pillar. Both the impactpoints showed highest HIC and peak brain tissue strain for the case with no countermeasures and lowest valueswhen including both the helmet and BPA. BrIC increased when including the BPA for the windshield impact wherethe head did not impact the BPA, but a reduction was observed when the impact location was at the A-pillar.Generally head injury risk was reduced for a bicyclist wearing a helmet when impacted by a passenger vehiclein 40km/h. Additional reductions was obtained for a vehicle with a BPA. Therefore, the conclusion from this studywas that helmet and BPA have the potential to protect the head in vehicle to bicyclist impacts.

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TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Medicinteknik -- Annan medicinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Medical Engineering -- Other Medical Engineering (hsv//eng)

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