We don’t need to do randomized controlled studies to know that parachutes save lives or that it’s a good idea to suture wounds and immobilize broken bones, and we shouldn’t need randomized controlled studies to know that motorcycle helmets are protective. However, the degree of protection a helmet provides may surprise you.
It’s important to remember most motorcyclist fatalities are attributed to thoracic and abdominal injuries. Only in extremely limited circumstances will a helmet save your life.
Among helmet wearers, death is often caused by hyper-extension of the neck, cerebral hemorrhage and contusions. Brain injuries are generally attributed to deceleration forces with rotational kinetic injury or decapitation.
While full face helmets have been shown to reduce head and facial injuries and the risk of death by associated trauma, the effectiveness of full face helmets is inhibited by factors including foam quality and thickness, materials, collision objects and impact speed - with rapidly diminishing protective benefits at speeds over 31 mph.
Full face helmets can, but not always, reduce facial injuries, which in turn leads to fewer associated traumatic brain injuries - again, up to about 31 mph. After that, their mitigation capacity diminishes considerably and rapidly. Assuming any helmet plays a significant role in overall rider survival for anything beyond a relatively low-speed impact is a dangerous pretense. At higher speeds, the chances are far greater that you’ll experience fatal trauma to the thoracic and/or abdominal regions of your body or catastrophic brain trauma as outlined previously - even while wearing a helmet.
An interesting finding from one study was that while full face helmets do reduce cranio-facial injuries and skull fractures, no significant statistical differentiation exists for traumatic brain injury, length of hospital stay or mortality rates between full face and other helmet types (half, three-quarter, or modular, etc.).
The moral of this story is that even the best helmets are easily subverted by speed, impact forces, poor judgement and dumbassery.
It’s important to remember most motorcyclist fatalities are attributed to thoracic and abdominal injuries. Only in extremely limited circumstances will a helmet save your life.
Among helmet wearers, death is often caused by hyper-extension of the neck, cerebral hemorrhage and contusions. Brain injuries are generally attributed to deceleration forces with rotational kinetic injury or decapitation.
While full face helmets have been shown to reduce head and facial injuries and the risk of death by associated trauma, the effectiveness of full face helmets is inhibited by factors including foam quality and thickness, materials, collision objects and impact speed - with rapidly diminishing protective benefits at speeds over 31 mph.
Full face helmets can, but not always, reduce facial injuries, which in turn leads to fewer associated traumatic brain injuries - again, up to about 31 mph. After that, their mitigation capacity diminishes considerably and rapidly. Assuming any helmet plays a significant role in overall rider survival for anything beyond a relatively low-speed impact is a dangerous pretense. At higher speeds, the chances are far greater that you’ll experience fatal trauma to the thoracic and/or abdominal regions of your body or catastrophic brain trauma as outlined previously - even while wearing a helmet.
An interesting finding from one study was that while full face helmets do reduce cranio-facial injuries and skull fractures, no significant statistical differentiation exists for traumatic brain injury, length of hospital stay or mortality rates between full face and other helmet types (half, three-quarter, or modular, etc.).
The moral of this story is that even the best helmets are easily subverted by speed, impact forces, poor judgement and dumbassery.