Two helmeted motorcyclist were traveling on a rural state road when a tractor-trailer driver failed to see the bikes and made a left turn in front of them to enter a truck stop. The rider in the right track had little time to respond and collided head first into the box trailer. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The helmeted motorcyclist was wearing a non-compliant or ‘novelty’ helmet, which did not meet DOT motorcycle helmet standards (FMVSS 218). Opposing counsel claimed that had the biker been wearing a DOT-certified motorcycle helmet he may have survived the impact.
Motorcycle helmet expert, Dr. John Lloyd, was retained to evaluate and compare the protective performance of DOT-certified and novelty motorcycle helmets.
Based on a comprehensive motorcycle accident reconstruction it was determined that the impact speed of the rider was 45 to 50 miles per hour. Motorcycle helmet certification tests typically involve impact speeds of 13-17 miles per hour. Therefore a dedicated apparatus was constructed to generate higher impact speeds. Using a force-balanced twin pendulum apparatus, Dr. Lloyd was able to generate head impact speeds similar to those specific to the subject crash, yet preserve the standard DOT test methodology, thereby avoiding a Daubert challenge.
Eight DOT and non-DOT helmets were purchased for this study. Each was impacted once in the frontal region while fitted to an instrumented crash test dummy head. High speed data and video were acquired for each test.
Results demonstrate that, although the tested DOT-certified motorcycle helmets outperformed the tested novelty helmets, neither would provide adequate protection against head injuries, such as skull fractures, contusions and lacerations, or brain injuries, including hemorrhages or axonal injury in an impact of this magnitude.
Dr. Lloyd’s prior published motorcycle helmet studies demonstrate that while DOT-certified motorcycle helmets can reduce the risk of traumatic head injuries, typical helmets do not afford any protection against acute brain injury.