Head on collision

[Horse]

Hope you never meet a car head on in your lane.

At least that chap cleared the vehicle.

I ride with a Helite airbag vest these days. People have questioned the value. I think it's in that type of crash that there would be real benefit.

It's fair to say that some have questioned what degree of benefit will be provided There has been little published research on them. And I can't remember where the available stuff actually is.

For a head-on, or T-bone, collision, the expression 'stop dead' might be appropriate.

A medic on a tv obdoc said "It's never a good outcome when the rider and car are still in close proximity" or similar.

Potentially another useful opportunity for 'The Jump'.

[Scootabout]

Potentially another useful opportunity for 'The Jump'.

It's harder to jump while tethered

[The Spin Doctor]

Potentially another useful opportunity for 'The Jump'.

It's harder to jump while tethered

Tethered airbags operate too slowly to fully inflate if you hit something, as opposed to fall off solo high or low side.

[Horse]

Potentially another useful opportunity for 'The Jump'.

It's harder to jump while tethered

Tethered airbags operate too slowly to fully inflate if you hit something, as opposed to fall off solo high or low side.

Figures in an article were 0.25s for tethered and 0.1s for electronic.

Re Jump, in one of the live demos, the stunt rider stands up before impact.

Re effectiveness, possibly ADAC suggested benefits up to 50kph. TRL research on an equestrian jacket tested it worn over a normal body protector.

[The Spin Doctor]

Re Jump, in one of the live demos, the stunt rider stands up before impact.

In one of the demos, the test rider flew off the bike to land on a pile of empty cardboard boxes!

In another, the test rider low-sided the bike then slid to a stop.

[Hot_Air]

I ride with a Helite airbag vest these days. People have questioned the value. I think it's in that type of crash that there would be real benefit.

The rider in the video wore Dainese race leathers with an integrated D-Air system. I think (?) this airbag covers the chest and neck.

He suffered a broken back, sternum and wrist but wasn’t killed. The police said he would have died without his airbag. Nonetheless, his injuries were sadly life changing.

https://news.sky.com/story/dashcam-foot ... n-11905785

[The Spin Doctor]

The rider in the video wore Dainese race leathers with an integrated D-Air system. I think (?) this airbag covers the chest and neck.

He suffered a broken back, sternum and wrist but wasn’t killed. The police said he would have died without his airbag. Nonetheless, his injuries were sadly life changing.

Not trivialising the incident, nor having a go at the choice to use an airbag, nor yet at police accident investigation technique...

...but that's a completely impossible claim to make.

The only way to prove it would be to have two identical crashes, one with and one without.

As it stands, there are so many random factors involved about how the rider's body impacted it's impossible to say what the airbag did, or didn't, do. He could have landed on his head, broken his neck, then the airbag would have achieved nothing useful.

Manufacturers seem remarkable coy when it comes to providing any information that's in 'real life' terms. I recall doing some number-crunching on a top of the range chest protector when they were the latest thing a decade or so ago - not easy, because they'd mixed up their units which made it difficult to do the sums, and my calculation was that it could just about absorb the impact resulting from being hit by an average sized chicken at 30 mph. From that, I inferred that with your body mass behind it, impact a car with your chest at 30 mph it was unlikely to achieve anything meaningful.

It would be interesting if there was a computer model that could be used... would save a lot of crash test dummies!

I'm meeting Paul Varnsverry tomorrow... I'll have a chat.

[Horse]

It would be interesting if there was a computer model that could be used... would save a lot of crash test dummies!

Which is roughly what UCL were doing at least 4 or 5 years ago, albeit for brain injuries. Their work included developing a more representative neck than a standard crash test dummy.

They were looking to develop a computer model to predict brain injuries.

The development process was based around American football players, because matches are covered by multi-camera hi-def recordings and injured players receive extensive imaging to support diagnosis.

[westers151]

Well that's all CGI innit, hardy Euro NCAP.

Not even good CGI

[tricol]

It's BeamNG, a 'game'. The crash physics are interesting, so I'd say none of it is accurate.