And turns out Virgina Tech does a bunch of helmet impact testing and maintains a ranking list https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/. The latest helmets have a releasable layer that absorbs (converts rotational energy?) more impact.
This HUD is pretty slick. In a way, it's more preventative (avoiding accidents) vs. reactive (absorbing impact in an accident) safety which sounds nice.
To my knowledge, the only group that tried to test bike helmets against a car is Volvo -- and all helmets failed.
I guess one reason people are so focused on that is because it's easy to quantify.
Helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 48%, traumatic brain injury by 53%, facial injury by 23%, and fatal injury by 34%.2 Pediatric non-helmeted bikers have a 3-fold higher risk of serious head injury compared to helmeted bikers;3 one study suggests that helmet use may reduce the risk of head injury by 83%.4
Bicycle-related head injuries and deaths have decreased in states that have enacted bicycle helmet laws.5
Larger effects are found when legislation applies to all cyclists than when it applies to children only. 6
Thanks for sharing. Interesting to see my Giro (with MIPS) has... 3 stars. Hmmm.
Too many helmets hit the old five star threshold, so to differentiate it's now based on relative performance (the x% best helmets get 5 stars) instead of static thresholds.
A crappy helmet with MIPS is a slightly less crappy helmet that may still be worse than a great non-MIPS helmet.
Like upgrading a 1960 motor vehicle death trap’s 2 point seat belts to 3 point. It’ll help, but it’s still a death trap.
VA Tech (and others, IIRC) has years of empirical tests that show otherwise. What is your comment based on?
Edit: In fact, if I understand your analysis, humans won't get concussions at all.
My Lazer Genesis Helmet is a MIPs and it’s the lightest helmet Lazer made at the time.
Much more breathable than my previous helmets too.
Sure, buy all the safety equipment you can afford that has any possible benefit.
What’s better: a $15 more expensive bike light or a $15 more expensive helmet with MIPS?
How are they testing it in the lab? How do concussions work in realistic situations (is there one way?)? What is the distribution of realistic situations?
Maybe the benefits are better in realistic situations; maybe the lab tests are more aggressive than reality or the results are interpreted conservatively (because scientists spending years on something might have thought of a 30-second hot take), ...
That is important and useful, and is best used in combination with other testing: Bicycling also has many other and more serious risks to cyclist head, including skull fractures, brain damage, and death.
Consumer Reports is another great source (better one IMHO); in their labs they do empirical testing for other outcomes of ~150 helmets, and provide a comprehensive guide to buying helmets:
https://www.consumerreports.org/health/bike-helmets/
In Consumer Reports’ tests, we strap helmets onto “head forms” that simulate the size of a human head, then drop them 14 mph onto a flat anvil to find out how well they withstand impact. An electronic sensor inside the head form monitors the force that would be transmitted to a rider’s skull in an accident.
To ensure the helmet will stay in place during an accident, we test the strength of the chinstraps, attachment points, and buckles by dropping a weight that’s 8¾ pounds and 2 feet so that it yanks on the straps to simulate the force of a crash.
Our testers also evaluate each helmet for ventilation, fit adjustments, ease of use, and other features.
I'm anti MIPS
If you have only tried first-gen MIPS, I recommend giving it another shot.
I ride on the streets of Oakland every single day and situational awareness is critical. The single biggest thing you can do for safety is watch each car as it approaches behind you for its speed and trajectory. Anyone approaching too close or too fast is a bad sign and with a mirror you can more easily avoid them.
These are also available on Amazon and I am not in any way affiliated I just think they’re good life saving technology:
Also, helmets are meant to be replaced every couple of years as the materials deteriorate (UV/heat) and the protection dissipates.
As we like to say, dentist helmet.
Not necessarily:
But if you really like your old helmet—and it’s in good condition—one scientific study tested older helmets and showed that holding on to one for longer won’t necessarily put you at significant risk. Randy Swart, executive director of the nonprofit Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute and former vice chair of the helmet and headgear subcommittee for ASTM International, a nonprofit, voluntary standards-setting organization, says that his own helmet is “much older than that,” though he adds that there may be other good reasons to get a new helmet, such as more protective technology included in some newer models.
How can I get people to stop laughing at me for tinfoiling my helmet?
It's not needed on everything but I really appreciate the extra options on my recumbent and touring bike.
Don't apologize for being a human being. The world needs more of them.
Pogies are great but don’t do you any good off of your bike.
maybe there will be some engineer on the project who learns something useful while working on this that can be applied to some actual project, but this is pretty clearly not an actual product that they intend to sell in anything more than single-digit quantities
I can see a HUD (not this one) for non-pro club riders, though. It might be nice to be able to see your stats while holding a wheel at 20+ MPH, without having to look away.
Recumbent bikes might be fun to watch in time trial races but would be ridiculously dangerous in a peloton. Visibility is bad enough on a regular bike when you're at the back of a group, and the lower perspective on a recumbent would make mass crashes even more likely. Yikes.
We're closer to having lidar in all new cars than this mesh network, so "There's a bike behind you travelling approximately X speed" is something the car already knows. "The cyclist requested you not to turn in front of him" - why would anyone ever send anything else?
Perhaps the car can send you a message instead "I'm going to cut you off and there's nothing you can do about it" but even if that might actually improve safety I don't think it's the change you'd want to see.
Do my fellow hacker news readers recommend some useful tech for bikes?
That works well enough for most road riding. I wonder if having a reverse view mapped onto my glasses would be an improvement or take away from my focus.
- if a car is behind me
- how many cars( I think up to 8) are behind me
- what speed they are coming up on me by way of animation
To answer your question about what to do, mostly yes, yield the road if I'm on a country road and get over to the shoulder if there is a good paved one.
It's a valid question if you've never ridden on a country road with cars. You want all the notification you can get if someone is coming up behind you so you can plan what to do
And improve education all around for road users, including pedestrians, to widen the understanding of how individual decisions affect the community. For example, starting to cross the road at the end of the crosswalk signal leads to fewer cars able to turn right, which leads to more congestion, etc. Trying to make it across the intersection when traffic is moving slowly and blocking crosswalks and cross traffic. Opening the driver's side door with your opposite hand to look in the side view mirror or blind spot for cyclists.