Virginia Tech Helmet Safety Ratings | Testing on Helmets for Cycling and Football for Head Injuries

Attorney Jim Dodson, aka The Florida Bike Guy recently had a chance to speak with Dr. Barry Miller from Virginia Tech’s Helmet Ratings Laboratory. Dr. Miller and Virginia Tech have been analyzing head injuries, concussions and brain safety at the helmet lab since 2007. During their conversation, Dr. Miller gives Jim an in depth tour of the lab and its helmet evaluation process.


In 2011, the lab came out with their first rankings of the safest helmets in football. They came to conclusions using nearly 65,000 data points regarding head injuries. Now, ten years later, the lab evaluates helmets from all sports, including cycling, and has over two million data points for football injuries alone.


One interesting fact Jim learned during their conversation was that even a basic helmet reduces the risk of a head or brain injury under similar circumstances significantly. With a quality helmet, your risk of a head injury can be reduced by up to 88%! With helmet technology constantly improving, this number is also likely to continue to increase.


With respect to cycling, the VT Helmet Ratings Lab generally finds MIPS and WaveCel helmets provide the most benefits. In fact, 9 of the top 10 ranked helmets from Virginia Tech utilized either MIPS or WaveCel technology. If you would like to view the rankings to help decide on the best helmet for protecting your brain, you can find the list here: https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/bicycl...


Jim found Dr. Miller to be deeply insightful and incredibly gracious that he took his time to help spread the word about helmet safety.