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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.
 
Kevin - THANKS for scaring the CRAP outa ME...!

o_O

:cool:
Geesh, Ed! Never meant to do that! Just want people to keep helmets in perspective. They are poor substitutes for awareness and responsible avoidance and defensive behaviors. I wear a helmet, but invest so much more heavily in riding safely, giving myself room to respond or escape, and doing what I can to avoid having to use mine in combat. About 500k miles and thankfully have never had to use my helmet or a traction setup - knock on wood.

😋
 
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 effects 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 and modular).

The moral of this story is that even the best helmets are easily subverted by speed, impact forces, poor judgement and dumbassery.
Very well explained!

By other words If you crash at 180km/h no helmet will save you regardless of the type of helmet.

But If a car in front of you breaks hard and you slam in to his rear face first... I rather not have an open helmet [emoji2]

Enviado do meu RMX2063 através do Tapatalk
 
By other words If you crash at 180km/h no helmet will save you regardless of the type of helmet.
UNLESS you're REALLY lucky like that young woman who was a passenger on her boy-friend's "crotch-rocket" wearing NO protective-gear EXCEPT her helmet when she 'came off' at 120 mph, suffering major skin-abrasions to MOST of her body, (n)(n)but SURVIVED. Can't recall her name, but she's a MAJOR "ATGATT" proponent now.

(y)(y)
 
I personally believe helmets are much more protective in slides than collisions. That’s basically how I see their value proposition in terms of safety. In most cases when you encounter something with your head, your body’s inertia drives your spine into your brain’s base and finishes you off quickly - if you’re lucky. Lots of internal decapitations also. Neither is particularly pleasant or survivable.

Interestingly, when I googled “motorcycle decapitation,” (lost a close friend this way), almost all of the images were from crotch rockets with very few Harley’s smattered about. (Warning - it’s not a search for the squeamish.) I skipped most little bikes in Indochina, India, Pakistan and related area. Drivers there are next level batshit crazy. I would love to explore detailed stats on fatalities, details of trauma/death along with motorcycle, helmet types, experience level of the rider, years riding, and causal factors like situations to become more familiar with situations and failure analysis to help riders become smarter and safer. I’m not aware of this data being available today. Until it is, there will be lots of dangerous misinformation and improper perceptions.

Speaking of road rash, I also wish more leather jacket manufacturers incorporated pad and plate pockets in their designs too. Not sure why they don’t.
 
UNLESS you're REALLY lucky like that young woman who was a passenger on her boy-friend's "crotch-rocket" wearing NO protective-gear EXCEPT her helmet when she 'came off' at 120 mph, suffering major skin-abrasions to MOST of her body, (n)(n)but SURVIVED. Can't recall her name, but she's a MAJOR "ATGATT" proponent now.

(y)(y)
Is it the one that the boy freind didn't have insurance and was left on the side of the road by emt with rashes all over him ?
The girl that dumped him when he went to see her at the hospital ?
The same guy who went home with a cleaning kit given by a nurse at said hospital as a gesture of compassion?
The same guy who lost consciousness when he tried to clean himself at home ???

Love that story

It's my final argument when trying to convince someone to go attgat ...

LOP
 
UNLESS you're REALLY lucky like that young woman who was a passenger on her boy-friend's "crotch-rocket" wearing NO protective-gear EXCEPT her helmet when she 'came off' at 120 mph, suffering major skin-abrasions to MOST of her body, (n)(n)but SURVIVED. Can't recall her name, but she's a MAJOR "ATGATT" proponent now.

(y)(y)
Might be Brittany Morrow?
 
Looking for a new helmet.... narrowed it down to aria xd4, hjc rpha 70, or scorpion exo st1400. Round head want something quiet....and I have glasses.... any suggestion?
The Scorpion is one of the more confortable and lighter helmets I've had. Even the non carbon version is more light than some carbon versions of other brands. The only downside is the ventilation is weak. But it looks and feels great. I've sold mine and I regret it. I've bought the X-Lite 903 and altough the ventilation is great I miss the fit and lightness of the Scorpion.

Enviado do meu G3221 através do Tapatalk
 
I bought a HIGH-VIS modular ZOX Condor helmet in BC to replace the BELL modular that had "lost its ability to be opened". The ZOX is quite comfortable w/ a larger opening than the BELL. Because of the smaller opening on the BELL I had to wear an older pair of glasses that has thinner frames, but the ZOX allows me to wear my current glasses.

revolver-evo-jackal-helmet-hi-viz-L by Ed Copeman, on Flickr

As I also have a BELL modular in AZ (which hasn't failed to open YET!!!), I looked for a similar ZOX which I found, but haven't begun using yet, till the BELL opener FAILS, as has happened TWICE to me, both times in BC.

IMG_0771 by Ed Copeman, on Flickr

The ZOX (as well as the BELL) have a drop-down sun visor.
 
UNLESS you're REALLY lucky like that young woman who was a passenger on her boy-friend's "crotch-rocket" wearing NO protective-gear EXCEPT her helmet when she 'came off' at 120 mph, suffering major skin-abrasions to MOST of her body, (n)(n)but SURVIVED. Can't recall her name, but she's a MAJOR "ATGATT" proponent now.

(y)(y)
You need to ride in more than one helmet at this speed. Well, helmets are different, there are really strong ones that compensate for the blow well.
 
I prefer to ride without helmet so I can kill myself quickly, instead of getting bored in a hospital:) but I do have Shoey RF 1200, because it is good for buffeting. I hate the sun visors as they distort the vision, so I just fit light smoke screens, which allow me also to see the road in the night, while reducing the sun glare during a sunny day.
 
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