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The purpose of this study was to determine the frictional properties between the exterior surface of a motorcycle helmet and ‘typical’ roadway surfaces. Motorcycle helmet impacts into asphalt and concrete surfaces were compared to abrasive papers currently recommended by government helmet safety standards and widely used by researchers in the field of oblique motorcycle helmet impact testing. A guided freefall test fixture was utilized to obtain nominal impact velocities of 5, 7 and 9 m/s. The impacting surfaces were mounted to an angled anvil to simulate an off-centered oblique collision. Helmeted Hybrid III ATD head accelerations and impact forces were measured for each test. The study was limited to a single helmet model and impact angle (30 degrees). Analysis of the normal and tangential forces imparted to the contact surface indicated that the frictional properties of abrasive papers differ from asphalt and concrete in magnitude, duration and onset.

The longitudinal motion of the head, thorax and lumbar spine of two test subjects was measured in low-speed rear-end collisions in order to understand the effect of the head-to-head restraint distance (backset) on the occupant kinematics. The two test subjects were exposed to three rear-end impacts at two crash severities, nominal changes in velocity (ΔV) of 1.11 (low ΔV) and 2.22 m/s (high ΔV). The backset was hypothesized to be an independent variable that would affect the head and neck motion and was set at 0, 5 or 10 cm. The x and z-axis accelerations of the impacted vehicle and the anatomical x and z-axis accelerations of each test subjects’ upper thorax and L5-S1 region were measured and then transformed to an earth-based coordinate system. Head accelerations were measured at the mouth and these accelerations were transformed to an earth-based coordinate system at the head center of gravity (CG).