Helmets and eye glasses

[alanmcorcoran]

Actually grew my hair for the show. Somewhat, anyway. It's past my ears, but a long way from shoulder length.

"Down to here,
Down to there,
Down to where,
it stops by itself."

[burkbuilds]

"A snug fitting helmet probably saved me from a concussion or two."

I doubt it, about the best it's gonna do is eliminate the road rash anything worse than falling off your bike in the driveway it probably won't help. I got a severe concussion and three broken vertebrae from a helmet to helmet hit playing football and that was from a guy running at me who didn't weigh anymore than I did. That helmet is great for keeping bugs off and scrapes but otherwise you are just kidding yourself!

[mrlmd1]

A motorcycle helmet is designed and constructed differently than a football helmet, The padding and shock absorption is heavier, and it's designed, at least in theory, to absorb more of an impact to protect your head.
If you broke 3 vertebrae, either you severely and suddenly bent your neck back or you compressed it downward, that isn't protected by any helmet, and you probably would have also had a fractured skull if you got hit that hard without the helmet on. Your injury would have been much worse.
If the helmet is too loose and your skull bangs around in it, you will more than likely get more than one hit, - you can get what's called a contra-coup injury, like in a whiplash, where you get hit first, then you hit the other side of the helmet with your head and your brain bangs into the opposite side of your skull. You can get 2 injuries to your brain for the price of one even with a good fitting helmet, more likely with a loose helmet.

I found this trying to explain it, but it's a good read about helmets and brain injuries:
http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cach ... l=en&gl=us

Wearing a helmet doesn't automatically prevent an injury, it obviously depends on the speed and force of the impact, but it certainly lessens the amount of trauma to your head and face.

[mrlmd1]

By the way, to get back to the original topic, I have to put on my full face helmet, then put on my light wire frame glasses through the visor opening. When I take the helmet off, the glasses come off inside the helmet.
But I think I already said that here about 7 months ago, and I still do it that way.

[mrlmd1]

From www.motorcyclecruiser.com/streetsurviva ... index.html - explaining myths about bikes-

Myth 3: Motorcycle Helmets Break Necks

It seems logical—you put more weight out there on the end of your neck and when you get thrown off the bike, that extra weight will create more pendulum force on your neck. Turns out, it doesn't work that way. In fact, the energy-absorbing qualities of a DOT motorcycle helmet also absorb the energy that breaks riders' necks in impacts. Studies show that helmeted motorcyclists actually suffer fewer neck injuries when they crash compared to riders who crash without helmets.

Myth 4: Helmets Block Your Ability to See or Hear Danger

The thing you learn when you dig into the research is that motorcycle riders who use helmets crash less frequently than those who don't. Maybe that happens because motorcyclists who decide to wear helmets have a better or more realistic attitude about riding. Maybe it's because putting on a helmet is a reminder that what you are about to do can be dangerous and the act of accepting protection puts you in the right mindset. Maybe it's because a helmet provides eye protection and cuts down wind noise so you can actually see and hear better. Maybe its because, by cutting wind pressure and noise, a helmet reduces fatigue. Whatever the reasons, wearing a helmet clearly does not increase a motorcyclist's risk of having an accident and wearing one correlates to reduced likelihood of an accident.

Myth 5: A Helmet Won't Help in Most Crashes

People look at the seemingly low impact speeds used in motorcycle-helmet testing and assume that if you are going faster than that, the helmet will no longer be up to the job. That ignores a few critical facts:
# Most accidents happen at relatively low speeds.
# Most of the impact energy is usually vertical—the distance your head falls until it hits.
# Helmets (or at least helmets that meet DOT standards) perform spectacular life-saving feats at impact speeds far above those used in testing.
# When a helmeted rider suffers a fatal head injury, it frequently doesn't matter, because, to hit hard enough to sustain that fatal injury, he sustained multiple additional fatal injuries to other parts of his body. In other words, the fact that the helmet didn't prevent the head injury was of no consequence.
# The numbers clearly say that riders using DOT helmets simply survive crashes more successfully than those without them.

Myth 6: A Helmet Will Leave You Brain Damaged in an Crash When You Would Have Simply Died

Of course that's possible—your helmet attenuates the impact energy enough to keep the injury from being fatal but not enough to keep all of your eggs from getting scrambled. However, that's rare, and if you hit that hard, you are likely to get killed by some other injury. It's actually the un-helmeted rider who is likely to cross from animal to vegetable kingdom, and often from a relatively minor impact that would have damaged nothing but his ego if he'd been wearing a DOT helmet.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

wearing one correlates to reduced likelihood of an accident.

Good post.....except for THAT.

An apparent correlation does NOT also automatically mean there is a cause/effect relationship.
It just proves that non-scientific studies and/or collections of raw data sometimes lead to conclusions that are not warranted.

It kind of hints around about what might be the real truth: that is, riders who are generally more careful also are more likely to wear a helmet. To instead strongly imply that the actual wearing of the helmet, in and of itself, results in fewer accidents is twisted logic and irresponsible jounalism......in my not so humble opinion. :cool:

[Water Warrior 2]

A helmet probably saved me from the vegetable kingdom many years ago. In fact I am sure of it. And I wasn't even riding during the impact. Was out enjoying the mountains and scenery, stopped at a bridge to watch the river flowing and take a break. Lost my balance and tumbled down the river embankment onto all the big ass rocks. My head bounced off a rock bigger than my head. Couple of sore spots on the body but the head was intact. At least 100 kms from a hospital if I'd been hurt. My Guardian Angel was along for the ride that day.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

Lost my balance and tumbled down the river embankment onto all the big ass rocks.

Well, that would be one in the column of "wearing a helmet does not PREVENT accidents".

:crackup

[alanmcorcoran]

I did not intend to divert this off into the helmet vs no helmet issue (which never, ever ends!) Patrick, I think you should divert the posts starting from my unintentional lighting of the flame (concussion) over to the Hot topics or whatever that forum sub thread is called.

Also, while we're on it: Both my full face helmet AND my thick black plastic sunglass frames restrict my vision. To claim that a full face helmet does not affect your field of vision just seems to undermine one's integrity. It is much easier for me to check my blind spot with the 3/4 helmet. Unless I have a uniquely (weird) shaped head, I suspect most other riders lose a few degrees of peripheral vision with a full face helmet.

For the record, my personal views are that much of what is fun and exciting in life is also dangerous. I wear a helmet, partly cause I have to, partly because I think the benefits outweigh the negatives. I am leery of legislation written purely for safety or "for my own good" because, logically, I'm much safer if motorcycle riding (and cheeseburgers/fries and a shake) are outlawed. I do feel it's reasonable to require people who do risky things to purchase sufficient insurance or show sufficient assets to handle death, dismemberment or vegetation so we don't ask other people to bear the consequences of our choices. The "for my own good" sentiment is also what got marijuana, prostitution and gambling criminalized, most of which are legal in some places.

[Moedad]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

Lost my balance and tumbled down the river embankment onto all the big ass rocks.

Have you considered wearing a helemt during all waking hours? :poke2: