The Virginia Tech Helmet Lab: Staying Safe on Campus

Earlier this year, the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab released ratings on approximately 178 helmets for a variety of sports, including football, hockey, soccer, snow sports, and bicycling. The rating system includes both a STAR (Summation of Tests for the Analysis of Risks) and a five-star system that work in conjunction to determine a helmet’s effectiveness at concussion protection. The lower STAR ratings and higher amount of stars a helmet has, the more safe it was determined to be. The lab also utilizes a medium and high helmet impact test to replicate common head injuries and measure how the helmet is damaged. The lab notes that no helmet is concussion-proof but determining the overall effectiveness of a helmet may severely mitigate the chances of a concussion in contact sports or accidents.

When traveling on campus, it is important to consider your own safety. Bicycles may permit you to travel faster to classes or to dining halls, but it can also be hard to stop quickly when an obstacle enters your path. Because of this, you should consider wearing a helmet. The Virginia Tech Helmet Lab has given ratings to a variety of specific biking methods, including mountain, road, urban, and multi-sport biking.

If you are an avid mountain biker, you might consider the Specialized Tactic 4, which was priced at $110 at the time of testing. It earned a five-star rating, and its STAR rating was 8.55, the best score of all 178 helmets tested. For road biking, which is the most common on campus, the best road helmet rating was given to the Specialized Prevail 3, costing $300. Despite its high price, it has the lowest STAR rating (8.64). To a college student who is looking to save a little money but still remain as protected as possible, the Giant Rev Comp MIPS is a great choice. It costs $65, has a five-star rating, and has a STAR rating of 9.13. The Specialized Mode helmet (STAR rating of 8.8) is a five-star helmet that costs $120 and was determined to be the best for urban biking. The cheapest, five-star helmet overall was actually awarded to the Specialized Align II helmet for multi-sport purposes.

The Virginia Tech Helmet Lab has released all 178 helmet ratings to the public on their website (https://helmet. beam.vt.edu/) in order to encourage people to pick the safest option to protect themselves from possible concussions.