Older readers may well remember the 2007 launch of the Department for Transport’s SHARP helmet rating scheme. It initially caused some consternation when some quite pricey brands found themselves with a lower rating on the five-star scale than some much cheaper lids. After consultation with the trade, the scheme settled down, and SHARP became an accepted part of the retail landscape. Helmets were tested according to the SHARP protocol; they were then given a score published on the government-backed website. A publicity campaign ran alongside, telling riders to check the rating on a lid before buying it, aiming to improve safety by encouraging the purchase of lids with higher SHARP safety ratings.
It’s fair to say that SHARP has become a bit anonymous in recent years. It’s still in operation, but with much less in the way of PR or advertising campaigns. Budgets were cut drastically across government from 2010 on, and SHARP was an easy target.
Now though, the scheme is undergoing a revamp. SHARP 2025 is the title of a new project undertaken by the DfT with the help of the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), which will both update the testing protocols and launch a new publicity campaign to get the rating scheme back into bikers’ minds. As the name suggests, it aims to have the revamped scheme in place for 2025.
Dr Phil Martin is head of transport safety at TRL, and one of the leading minds behind the revamp, and has worked previously on the safety of vulnerable road users (including motorcyclists). His PhD was focused on the biomechanics of injury, particularly head and thorax. He knows a lot about helmets and how they work.
“I was still a fresh-faced undergraduate when SHARP launched! But the ECE 22.06 regulations have accelerated the need to re-look at SHARP, re-examine the evidence base used for the test protocols, and reassess whether they are still fit for purpose. Do they still evaluate the safety of motorcycle helmets above and beyond regulatory requirements? That’s the whole purpose of SHARP.”
The aim is to give consumers more information. The latest ECE 22.06 helmets are all safe – but SHARP wants to show how they perform compared to each other above that standard.
“For the ECE 22.06 requirements, you have to test a motorcycle helmet by dropping it from a particular height. SHARP goes further and increases that energy, the impact speeds, and then you can see how helmets perform against each other.”
So, how does SHARP come up with the higher testing impact speeds? “Those speeds are based on the evidence we have about the speeds that motorcyclist helmets are struck during collisions, so it’s based on accident data. Ultimately there is a need for the SHARP protocol to change, including things like an impact against angled anvils to align with ECE 22.06, and we also need to look at rotational injuries and the injury risk compared between different helmets.”
Martin also told BDN about some interesting work on digital modelling – simulating motorcycle crashes, to learn more about the forces experienced by a rider in a bike crash. “There are simulations recreating collisions where, if you’re simulating it in a computational environment, you can get a lot more information about head impact speeds and angles. A lot of research is carried out in that field that informs SHARP and the upgrade of the protocols.”
Of course, it doesn’t matter how good SHARP is if riders aren’t aware of it or don’t care about it. And the job of publicising and promoting SHARP 2025 is almost as big as revising the test protocols. It’s a problem Phil Martin is aware of: “There’s a real acceptance that a big part of SHARP 2025 is to engage with consumers right from the moment they first make the decision to even want to ride a bike. So, when they apply for a provisional license, they get information that tells them to consider the helmet’s safety when they buy their first one, right through to advanced rider courses. SHARP will take every opportunity to engage with consumers, industry, and riders.”
The DfT and TRL are engaging with the industry, riders’ rights groups and other stakeholders as part of the SHARP 2025 revamp. “We’ve been in talks with the MCIA,” said Martin. “They see the value in it in terms of the benefit to society, consumers knowing how their helmets perform, and that being part of the buying decision process, but the MCIA naturally wants that to be as objective as possible and they will have a big part to play in terms of contributing to the development of those protocols.”