Safety Tip from Throttle - What’s your exposure?

The below diagram shows the impact areas on crash-involved motorcycle helmets. At 35% of the strikes, the chin bar area has the most number of strikes. I like this diagram because you can easily convert it to the type of helmet you use and see what percentage of impacts your choice of helmet is guarding you from.

If you remove the chin bar (3/4 and 1/2 helmets) you also provide greater exposure to the face. Add up the numbers and you can see an exposure of over 44% (5.5+4.4+19.4+15.2) of motorcycle helmet impacts is allowed with helmets that don't have a chin bar.

(Source: Dietmar Otte, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Abteilung Verkehrsunfallforschung, Germany

This is but one factor in choosing a helmet. Comfort, fit, convenience, looks, and price are other factors in choosing a helmet. We all place different importance to these factors. Based the importance you place on the protection factor, the above diagram can help you make a more informed choice of the type of helmet you use.

For questions, comments, or suggestions on safety tips please contact Rob 'Throttle' Capozzi.

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