New testing demonstrates some bicycle head protectors are more secure than others

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) - Matthew Dalton works at Blue Ridge Cyclery in Charlottesville, Virginia and knows the significance of wearing a protective cap while riding a bicycle.
"I flinch each time I see somebody riding a bicycle without a cap," Dalton said. "A protective cap is intended to take the effect that your head would somehow or another be taking."

Research indicates wearing a cap cuts your danger of anguish head damage down the middle, however new testing demonstrates a few caps ensure you superior to others.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS, and Virginia Tech collaborated to test 30 protective caps available and score them on a five-star rating scale.

"Four of those are five-star, or the best entertainers. Two earned two stars, so the uplifting news is there were nobody star or zero-star protective caps among these 30, and the rest are in the center," said David Zuby, the Chief Research Officer for IIHS.

The scientists found that cap cost was not a pointer of security.

"Among the five-star entertainers, we have head protectors as low as $75 and as high as $250," said Zuby.

The majority of the five-star head protectors had two things in like manner, however. They all were street protective caps, which means they have a prolonged shape with a considerable measure of venting. They additionally were all outfitted with a multi-directional effect assurance framework, or MIPS.

MIPS enables the go to move inside the protective cap upon affect.

"This smidgen of development decreases the probability that you'll endure a blackout," Zuby said.

All protective caps sold in the United States must pass government-required testing, yet these tests don't score the head protectors in view of how safe they are.

"Those tests are essentially a pass/fall flat and the tests speak to the most serious head impacts that a bicyclist may endure," said Zuby.

This new appraising framework from IIHS and Virginia Tech repeats more typical situations a biker may persevere through, such as tumbling off of the bicycle sideways or flipping over the handlebars.

Dalton said this new data is a distinct advantage for clients who are picking which protective cap to purchase.

"It's pleasant to have the capacity to evaluate a genuine security rating in light of the fact that before it was only a pass/fall flat," Dalton said.