BHSI

Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute

CPSC 1998 Article on their helmet standard

Summary: Mostly for historic interest, here is the article the Consumer Product Safety Commission published in 1998 to explain their bike helmet standard.

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Consumer Product Safety Review Spring 1998

Vol. 2, No. 4

Bike Helmets: A New Safety Standard

To help protect bikers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently issued a new federal safety standard for bicycle helmets. This standard will provide, for the first time, one uniform mandatory safety standard for all bike helmets, as well as special requirements for young children’s helmets.

By March 1999, all bike helmets manufactured or imported for sale in the U.S. must comply with the CPSC standard. A bike helmet will carry a label or sticker stating that it meets CPSC’s new safety standard. Bike helmets currently conform to several different voluntary standards.

CPSC’s new bike helmet standard includes requirements for helmet performance during a crash, greater coverage for young children’s heads, and chin strap requirements to help keep helmets on the head during a fall or collision. [1] This new standard was developed as a result of the Children’s Bicycle Helmet Safety Act of 1994.


Injury Data

In recent years, about 900 people were killed annually in bicycle-related incidents.[2] Most (90%) of these deaths were associated with motor vehicle collisions.

Bike-related injuries took an especially high toll on children. More youngsters, ages 5 to 14, went to U.S. hospital emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries than for injuries associated with any other sport. For children under age 5, bike-related injuries were number two for sports-related injuries, behind playground injuries. [3]

In 1996, among all age groups, an estimated 566,000 people were treated for bike-related injuries in U.S. hospital emergency rooms. About 356,000 of those injured were children under age 15. A CPSC study of bicycle hazards indicated that the injury risk for children under age 15 was more than five times that for older riders. [4]


Head Injuries

Approximately 60% of all bike-related deaths involved head injuries. For children under age 5, about 64% of the deaths involved head injuries.

Of total injuries, approximately 30% involved the head and face. Young children incurred almost twice the proportion of head and facial injuries as older victims.

In the CPSC study, about one-half of the injuries to children under age 10 involved the head, compared with one-fifth of the injuries to older riders. This may have been partly due to the fact that only 5% of the victims younger than 15 in that study were wearing a helmet, compared with 30% of those 15 and older.

In several studies, bike helmet usage has been associated with dramatically reducing the risk of head and brain injury. One widely-cited study puts this reduction at 85% for head injury and 88% for brain injury. [5]


Major Provisions of the Standard

CPSC’s new bike helmet safety standard mandates several important safety requirements. These include the following:

  • Impact protection in a crash: The standard establishes a performance test to ensure that helmets will adequately protect the head in a collision or fall. This test involves dropping a helmet attached to a headform from specified heights onto a fixed steel anvil. Three shapes of anvils (flat, hemispherical, and curbstone) are used to represent different surfaces that may be encountered in actual riding conditions.

    The impact tests are performed on different helmets of each model being evaluated. Each is subjected to one of four differing environmental conditions. These include high, low, and room temperatures, as well as immersion in water for several hours.

    Test helmets are impacted at several different points to ensure that the helmet provides protection all around the head.
  • Children’s helmets and head coverage The new bike helmet standard specifies an increased area of head coverage for young children, ages 1 to 5. This additional coverage is to account for the different characteristics of young children’s heads and will provide added head protection for this age group.
  • Chin strap strength and stability: The performance tests for chin straps measure whether they are strong enough to prevent breakage or excessive elongation, and whether they work to resist a helmet’s rolling off the head during a collision or fall.

    In the strength test, the chin strap, when subjected to a weight falling a specified distance, must remain intact and not elongate more than a certain amount.

    In the roll-off test, a helmet is secured onto a test headform. A falling weight is attached to the edge of the helmet shell to attempt to pull the helmet off the headform. The helmet must remain on the test headform to pass the test.


Additional Requirements

In addition to the provisions above, the new bike helmet standard includes requirements for the following:

  • Peripheral vision: The standard requires that a helmet allow a field for vision of 105 degrees to both the left and right of straight ahead.
  • Labels and instructions: Helmets must carry labels including information on, among other things, how to care for the helmet, what to do if the helmet is damaged, and how a helmet should be fitted and worn.
  • Certification labels, testing, and Recordkeeping provisions: To help ensure that bicycle helmets meet the CPSC requirements, manufacturers must have a certification test program and maintain test records. Bike helmets must have a label stating that they meet the (CPSC standard.

Scott Heh, Directorate for Engineering Sciences

For More Information

To obtain a copy of the Safety Standard for Bicycle Helmets briefing package, contact: Office of the Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC 20207/ 301-5040800.

The Federal Register notice with the final CPSC bike helmet standard is posted on the CPSC web site at www.cpsc.gov. Click on ”Business,” then “Official Federal Information,” and then “CPSC Federal Register Notices of Interest.” The website also lists numerous CPSC brochures on hikes and bike helmet safety. Click on “Consumer,” then “CPSC Publications,” then “Recreational Safety “

Buying a Bike Helmet

Should you replace your current helmet?
If you have a bike helmet that meets current voluntary helmet safety standards–like those from the Snell Memorial Foundation, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA)_you do not need to rush out to buy a new bike helmet. These helmets provide good protection for the head.

By March 1999, all bike helmets manufactured or imported for sale in The U.S. must comply with the CPSC standard. Many manufacturers will likely offer helmets certified to the CPSC standard before its effective date. So, as it becomes time to replace a bike helmet (e.g., when a helmet is outgrown or damaged in a crash), look for a new helmet that meets the CPSC standard.

How can you tell if a bike helmet complies with CPSC’s new safety standard?
A bike helmet will carry a label or sticker stating that it meets CPSC’s new safety standard. A bike helmet for a young child will indicate that it meets CPSC’s safety standard for bicycle helmets for those ages 1 and older with extended head coverage.

What else should you look for when buying a new helmet?
A helmet should fit comfortably and securely. It should be worn low and level near the eyebrows, not back on the forehead. The chin strap should be securely fastened and prevent the helmet from moving too much on the head. If you have trouble getting the helmet to fit correctly, ask for help from a knowledgeable salesperson or experienced biker.

To prevent head injuries, it’s not enough to wear a bike helmet. A bike helmet must be worn correctly every time you ride.

Will bike helmets meeting CPSC’s standard provide protection for sports other than biking? If so, which ones? Bike helmets are often worn for recreational inline skating or roller-skating. These sports are typically conducted on similar surfaces and at similar speeds as biking. In addition, knee and elbow pads and wrist guards are recommended for these sports.

Those who skateboard or do more aggressive (trick or freestyle) skating should look for helmets sold specifically for these activities and that most standards for these sports. These helmets cover more of the head, especially in the back.

Who Wears the Gear?

According to a national estimate of bike helmet use, about 18% of all bicycle riders in the U.S. wear a bike helmet–the single most important piece of protective equipment for a biker. This estimate, from a CPSC survey, showed an increase from the estimated usage rate of 10% or less in the late 1980s.[6]

Bike helmet use is probably higher in the states and localities that have laws requiring people to wear them. Fifteen states and more than 60 localities have such laws. Some require people of all ages to wear bike helmets; some require only those under a certain age to wear them.

Maryland, for example, requires all people under age 16 to wear bike helmets; Montgomery County in Maryland requires all those under 18 to wear them. In contrast, the Maryland town of Sykesville requires people of all ages to wear bike helmets

References

[1] Briefing package. Safety standard for bicycle helmets. Washington, DC: CPSC, 1997.

[2] National Center for Health Statistics.

[3] National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). NEISS, operated by CPSC, is a statistical sample of the hospitals nationwide that have emergency departments. Each day, NEISS hospitals report to CPSC all emergency room-treated injuries associated with consumer products and related activities.

[4] Tinsworth DK, Polen C, Cassidy S. Bicycle-related injuries: injury, hazard, and risk patterns. International Journal for Consumer Safety, 1994;I:207-220.

[5] Thompson RS, Rivera FP, Thomson [sic], DC. A case-control study of the effectiveness of bicycle safety helmets. New England Journal of Medicine 1989;320:1361-1367.

[6]Rodgers G. The characteristics and use patterns of bicycle riders in the United States. Journal of Safety Research, 1994:25:83-96.

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