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 protection airbag (BPA) was evaluated by means of human body model simulations. The human body model SAFER HBM was positioned on a bicycle and impacted by a passenger vehicle in 40 km/h. Three conditions were evaluated; without countermeasure, with helmet and helmet together with bicyclist protection airbag (BPA). Head injury risk was evaluated 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 impact points showed highest HIC and peak brain tissue strain for the case with no countermeasures and lowest values when including both the helmet and BPA. BrIC increased when including the BPA for the windshield impact where the 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 vehicle in 40km/h. Additional reductions was obtained for a vehicle with a BPA. Therefore, the conclusion from this study was that helmet and BPA have the potential to protect the head in vehicle to bicyclist impacts.