Rising deaths stir new debate over helmet laws

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 12/01/03 | Joseph A. Gambardello

[archy]

My head was one of the first things on my body to make contact with the road. If there'd been a helmet law in Indiana at the time of my wreck - the likely hood is I would be dead as a result of law.

Concur. I've had two fairly serious accidents on a bike in just under 40 years of riding, one being a one-in-a-million fluke unlikely ever to happen again, but one in which my helmet, worn because it was warm headgear durng a cold November afternoon's ride, probably saved me from serious injury. There was no helmet law requiring a helmet, and my riding pal with me was happier with a sock cap; he would have been creamed.

On the other, I hit a car broadside being driven by a drunk through a stoplight and had the choice of going down in front of his rear wheel, or standing up and being thrown off the bike and over the car's trunk deck. Helmetless, I stood up, flew over the back of his car, did a perfect somersault and landed on my feet like I'd practiced the trick a thousand times. A helmet would not have made any difference so far as impact was concerned, since there was none, but the chances of it catching as I went through my own plexiglass windshield are unpleasant to consider, and upsetting my balance in the slightest would likely have spoiled my best-ever trick.

Helmets? Rarely. I wear one when I go parachuting, and I've seen too many parachute jumpers injured by their own helmets. Neither do I care for having a wasp or hornet getting trapped in a helmet at highway speeds, as happened to one fellow rider who had planned on riding to the Illinois state fair with me that year. He didn't make it.

-archy-/-

[Old Professer]

46 deaths, 73 injuries cost Louisiana $102 million? That would be $857,142 each; highly questionable numbers.

[Revelation 911]

Its a given that far more people die from head injuries sustained in automobile accidents than motorcycle accidents

sources please ? and is that cumulatively or proportionately ?

[Revelation 911]

Neither do I care for having a wasp or hornet getting trapped in a helmet at highway speeds, as happened to one fellow rider who had planned on riding to the Illinois state fair with me that year. He didn't make it.

happened to me as well - twice - the first time, my neck spasmed in reaction and I found myself staring at my feet at 60mph, unable to raise my head - and the next was a hornet that nailed me several times in the face and on top of my nuggin

[RightWhale]

Are you talking about the full helmet that limits both seeing and hearing? Don't they allow the kind that protects the brainpan yet leaves ears and eyes open?

[Old Professer]

This is how it works:

First it is assumed that you will make a million every year and give half to the government, so by dying the government lost that half a mil;

second, it is assumed that a 2 pound lump of plastic is going to resist upwards of 10,000 FPS at impact and you would walk away without a scratch and go back to paying that half a mil you owe;

third, the doctors could be making at least $5,000 per hour in the ER on real people instead of working on your sorry ass;

fourth, you're too ignorant to appreciate a professional bullshitter when you see one.

[Old Professer]

Trauma removes more citizens from productive life, either temporarily or permanently, than any other disease.

See what I mean?

[Havoc]

Hard time understanding english or is there something in the way I phrased it that you aren't understanding.

[RWG]

You're supposed to wear motorcycle helmets, not football helmets. Saying helmets cause accidents is like saying birthdays cause pregnancies.

[BraveMan]

No, I cannot argue with that. It would be silly to even try. Moreover, as a civilized society we have a moral obligation to tend to the "donors and idiots", IMHO.

To paint this exclusively as a motorcyclist problem, as this article does, is dishonest at best.

Many states proof of insurance. Wisconsin requires proof of financial responsibility in leiu of proof of insurance. All well and good. However, just as the myriad of gun control laws do not physically prevent criminals from carrying and using them, the proof of financial responsibility requirement does not stop the newbie squid from hopping on his 188mph Yamaphobahy rocket and taking him/herself out in spectacular fashion.

Uninsured, unlicensed riders are way overrepresented in motorcycle accidents; over 65% of all motorcycle accidents are attributed to uninsured, unlicensed riders with less than a year of experience. Why should I be required to wear a helmet all the time because of these goofs?

Mandatory helmet laws are a poor substitute for rider and driver education.

[Semper]

If I'd been wearing a helmet, I'd be dead or paralyzed.

Interesting post. For those who don't understand, let them try to do gymnastics wearing a helmet.

[WorldWatcher1]

If I'd been wearing a helmet, I'd be dead or paralyzed.

Why? Nothing in your story leads to that conclusion.

[biblewonk]

I assume it's simple deaths per million accidents and not a measure of likelyhood or frequence of accidents.

[BraveMan]

Thanks for clearing that up. I feel better now (I think) . . .

[newgeezer]

deaths per million accidents

That would definitely help the helmet nazis make their point!

[Semper]

Saying helmets cause accidents is like saying birthdays cause pregnancies.

Some of the birthday parties I have experienced would certainly lead to that pregnancy conclusion.

BTW, helmets CAN cause accidents as described on this thread where bees have gotten into the helmet and stung the rider. I have had that happen - stung on the temple while riding on a winding country road, fortunately the result was not catastrophic.

No matter what the actual statistics are, the government should not be telling us we have to wear helmets.

[archy]

Don't you know, helmets are dangerous and cause broken necks? No? Actually, I don't know, maybe those shorty helmets are prone to having an edge catch and providing extra leverage for the pavement to break your neck or whatever. I do know that with full-face helmet like the one I wear the design pretty much precludes the edge of the helmet catching on the pavement. And the helmet's shell has a lower coefficient of friction on pavement than does hair and skin. You're looking at the wronmg parts of the helmets. Look at the back where it rides across the neck. If it's straight across, as many are, both cheapies and top-end full-jet models both, it's a Guillotine waiting to snap your spine at the neck and leave you drooling and paralyzed in a wheelchair at best, slowly suffoicating as your lungs no longer receive operational instructions from the brain at worst. Or maybe that's not worse.

Look for one with as much of a high relieved arch over the neck while still offering the back of the skull and the medulla and occipital process as much protection as possible.

Whatever you get, the better the interior padding and the lighter that weight on your already overstressed neck and cervical structure is, the better off you'll be. Look at the following, and figure out which of the following you'd want to be wearing when you hit the ground at 40MPH-plus. As Ive done 388 times from airplanes, and a half-dozen times off motorbikes.

[archy]

You're supposed to wear motorcycle helmets, not football helmets. Saying helmets cause accidents is like saying birthdays cause pregnancies.

Many football helmets, if not most, are actually better for surviving an impact than many now available motorcycle helmets. After all, they've been tested with guaranteed impacts dozens of times over a season, and resulting lawsuits have refined the dangerous ones off the field. The same is true of protective headgear for many other sports as well, whereas motorcycle riders are told to throw their old skidlid away if it's been down even once.

And guess how football helmets are cut across the rear now.

[WorldWatcher1]

archy, your info helped me understand Havoc's point, which I think was that a helmet could have snapped his neck (if it was poorly designed).

[archy]

Saying helmets cause accidents is like saying birthdays cause pregnancies.

What's being said is that some helmet designs cause injuries even in the most minor accidents, or exacerbate them in more serious ones.

And mandatory helmet laws increase the use of such helmets and mandate their wear, when the wearers would actually be safer without them.

-archy-/-