SHARP Focus: How TRL is Advancing Helmet Safety for Motorcyclists and Beyond
By Phil Martin, Head of Transport Safety, TRL
Motorcycle helmets save lives. That’s not a slogan; it’s a fact backed by decades of research looking at real-world evidence. At TRL, improving road user safety is at the heart of everything we do, which is why we are proud to run the SHARP motorcycle helmet safety scheme on behalf of the UK Department for Transport (DfT).
It was therefore particularly encouraging to see SHARP referenced in the recently published DfT Road Safety Strategy, reinforcing the scheme’s importance in helping riders make safer choices and supporting the UK’s wider road safety ambitions.
Running SHARP: Putting Riders First
SHARP (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme) is a DfT-funded consumer information safety scheme, currently managed by TRL. Its purpose is simple but powerful: to give motorcyclists clear, independent information about how well helmets perform in real-world impacts, beyond minimum regulatory requirements.
At the heart of SHARP is its star rating system, which provides an easy visual guide to the safety performance of helmets available on the UK market. These ratings allow riders to compare helmets easily and empowers them to choose the safest option for their needs.
A five-star helmet – in any price bracket – really does offer superior protection against a serious head injury.
The impact of SHARP is tangible. Every day, over 1,000 people visit the SHARP website to look up a helmet star rating. With more than 650 helmets tested to date, and over 30 helmets assessed each year, SHARP continues to actively influence safer helmet choices by the UK motorcycling community.
The SHARP scheme is funded by UK taxpayers for the benefit of UK motorcyclists. But its impact stretches around the globe. Four times as many people look up a helmet star rating every day from countries where there are no rules about motorcyclists wearing a helmet, or where the helmet standards are inferior to those enforced in Europe.
Recognised in the DfT Road Safety Strategy
The inclusion of SHARP in the DfT’s Road Safety Strategy (pg. 21) is a strong endorsement of the scheme’s value and effectiveness. The scheme has been running since 2007, and the Government’s continued support acknowledges motorcyclists as a key group of vulnerable road users. With collision statistics for motorcyclists among the Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) that will be proactively reported by the DfT, having a goal to reduce injuries to motorcyclists means active promotion of the SHARP scheme should be a key component of future local safe systems strategies.
At TRL, we see SHARP as more than a testing programme. As well as encouraging the helmet manufacturers to continuously improve their products, the scheme ensures that safety information reaches those who need it most. The star rating systems empowers riders with knowledge, supporting behavioural change, and reducing the severity of injuries when crashes do occur.
World-Leading Helmet Testing at TRL
TRL’s ability to deliver SHARP, and test other types of safety helmet, is underpinned by our long-standing crash testing facilities and safety research expertise.
For many decades, TRL operated an FIA-accredited test laboratory at Crowthorne, contributing to the development of safety standards for motorsport, including advanced racing driver helmets. While we no longer crash test racing cars, the deep knowledge acquired continues to shape our work today.
We now provide confidential, impartial and comprehensive advice to motorsport and automotive clients, supporting the performance assessment of new safety features, the optimisation of helmet and system design, and due diligence for advanced safety concepts.
TRL supports the research, development, and preparation for homologation testing of:
· Advanced motorsport helmets
· Motorcycle helmets
· Pedal cycle and e-bike helmets
· Occupational safety helmets
Our Unique Drop Rig in Wokingham
At the heart of our helmet testing capability is TRL’s unique drop tower facility at our Wokingham site.
Our test rig is a highly versatile and cost-effective test facility that drops test samples onto a wide range of anvils and structures. The tower allows free-fall drops of 10 metres, achieving impact speeds that can exceed 13 m/s (47 km/h), ideal for realistic and repeatable high-energy helmet impact testing and making it Europe’s leading commercial facility dedicated to delivering such demanding helmet tests.
The drop rig is highly flexible in its configuration, allowing us to test helmets and safety components in a wide range of realistic impact scenarios. We can assess how helmets behave during impacts, how materials absorb energy, and how different safety systems perform under controlled conditions. The rig can also be adapted to test more complex equipment, such as HANS devices used in motorsport.
To support this work, the facility is equipped with a wide range of specialist tools that allow us to capture detailed information during each test. These include high-speed cameras, advanced measurement systems and environmental controls, helping us understand exactly how helmets and safety components perform in real-world crash conditions.
This adaptability makes the drop tower attractive for innovative research projects, including reconstruction of head injury mechanisms in pedal cycle, e-scooter, and e-bike collisions and assessing the effect of helmet mounted cameras (e.g. GoPro’s) on brain injury risks.
Looking Ahead
On a personal note, SHARP was a major reason for me joining TRL over a decade ago. Having started my career researching brain injuries, the opportunity to work with such a dedicated team of helmet-testing experts, world-leading helmet testing facilities, and to make a real, measurable difference to people’s lives, felt like a natural fit.
It’s fantastic to see the DfT’s continued commitment to SHARP and to UK motorcyclists, and I’m excited about what’s ahead. There will be plenty of news about SHARP emerging through 2026, with new developments and opportunities to engage with the scheme.
If you care about motorcyclist safety, and why wouldn’t you? I encourage you to keep an eye on SHARP and on the work, we’re doing at TRL to advance helmet safety for road users of all kinds.
If you would like to find how more on how we can test your helmets, drop us a line at enquires@trl.co.uk
