Motorcycle Accidents — A New Head and Neck Safety Device for Riders

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the design and first implementation of a new head and neck safety device (NHNS) for race of motorcycles. The system aims to mitigate the effects of crash forces acting along almost every direction with respect to the head. The system is composed by a helmet, linked to a jacket by means of a number of cables and a by a number of stop surfaces to limit both the flexion and extension of the neck. Stop surfaces are provided also to limit the lateral leaning of the head. Preliminary numerical simulations, performed by a simplified human model, and experimental tests, ran by using a Hybrid III dummy, show that the NHNS has the potential to actually reduce the neck damage in some relevant crash situations. The effect of the device is reducing the load acting on the passenger’s neck and maintaining the vertebrae rotations within the physiological limits.