It keeps all the blood in. Ever seen one of those things pulled off a accident victim? Nothing but soup inside sitting on a broken neck. The lucky ones only get the broken neck and paryalyzed. Damn things kill a HELL of a lot more people than they have ever saved. I'll be sure to pass that nugget of wisdom along to all the professional motorcycle racers that wear, and swear by quality helmets. You don't like to wear a helmet? Fine, but please keep your misinformation to yourself. I've personally seen guys walk away from accidents after sutaining damage to their helmet that would have been real messy if it'd been their head instead.
I have to agree. A helmet (or any safety equipment) can only protect against low level impacts. The problem is that we're not made of a single, rigid material, and if the decelleration is great enough, our "soft parts" become mush.
However, a helmet is very useful. In a friends case, he was vaulted over a car, flying almost 20 feet before hitting the ground. He landed flat on his back, but his head took a glancing blow on the car's fender and the curb when he hit the ground. Although he broke some ribs and an arm, there's no doubt that he would have died from the head impacts, if not for his helmet.
In my case, I fell off (low side) at nearly 100mph on a track, and although there was no major impact, the abrasions on my helmet, front, sides, and rear, would have meant a lengthly hostpital stay, and quite probably death.
Mark
Exactly. Helmets are basically designed to protect the head from the impact resulting form a fall of about 6 ft or so (maybe 10 at the outside). They're definitely not going to protect from all possible impacts, but they can absorb many blows that would otherwise crack skulls and scramble brains. Not to mention the protection from abrasion.
All this talk of broken necks resulting from helmets is pure BS, as far as I can tell. An impact large enough to break your neck with a helmet on would probably smash your skill without one. And then there's the "I'd rather die than live paralyzed or brain damaged" line of reasoning, to which I'd respond that I'd rather walk away from a relatively minor accident than end up brain damaged.
Ask Gary Busey, he's a believer in helmets now. He had a minor low speed accident that resulted in him bouncing his head off of a curb, as a result of which he suffered a brain injury. There's every reason to believe he would have walked away uninjured if he had been wearing a decent helmet.
Having said all that, I think people should be free to make their own decision, and given that freedom I might even choose to ride without one myself on occasion. I just don't like to see disinformation spread on the subject.