Crashes Life after traumatic brain injury...SO YA DON'T WEAR A HELMET?!?!

A brain injury can change who you are, not just what you remember... And the worst part is, she said that many of these folks remember who they used to be, and are upset that they can't be that way again.

a neighbor girl back in high school who sustained head/neck trauma (gymnastics, not helmet-less riding) said that was the hardest part, remembering that you used to be someone different.

Yes, it is still possible to sustain fatal injuries while wearing a helmet, but if it fits properly, the helmet is not going to CAUSE accidents.
 
Like everyone here who has responded in favor of wearing a helmet, I get aggravated seeing anyone on two wheels in traffic with total disregard for what a simple accident can do to them. I see guys, young and old, on over-powered motorcycles; no helmet. More frequently, younger women on the Vespa-type scooters, with as much skin exposed as is legal and no helmet an sometimes no eye gear in the high speed lanes.

If I could preach to the younger people:
In an accident, the two-wheel rider loses. Physical injury disrupts school. Injury disrupts your job. A young person is worth millions of dollars of potential income. A brain injury zeros that out; now you could be a liability upon parents and society. I have seen it.

How many sports do you see that mandate a helmet in controlled sports? You can rattle off half a dozen in under ten seconds. And you want to go head bare into traffic that is violent and uncivil with two-ton missiles guided by the near-blind, distracted, drugged, and drunk dolts. And you probably wear dark or black clothes so that the drivers have a hard time spotting you as they yak on their cell phones.

I may look like a lemon dork when I ride, but drivers see me; they move into the next lane if they can.

Enough of me on my soapbox (again). Let me paraphrase an observation by someone who pointed out to me, "There are old riders, there are foolish riders; there are no old, foolish riders."
 
and we all heard about the man who, during a rally protesting mandatory helmet laws within the last week, was in a crash DURING the rally and died from his head injuries?

Man dies from head injuries... ABC News

(oh, and notice the idiot in the footage wearing shorts and loosely-laced sneakers... DUH!)
 
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Don't fool yourself

Life can be dangerous, but bicycling is not worse than many other things we do that we'd never consider wearing a helmet for.

For every single person in the USA who dies on a bicycle, fifty die in their cars. The ratios of head injuries to other injuries are similar. When is the last time you saw a person wearing a helmet to drive a car, outside of a race?

Working from a ladder or showering in a clawfoot tub puts you at more risk of head injury, per time of exposure, than riding a bicycle. Do you wear a helmet for those things?

Walking along a public street is three times more lethal than riding a bike along the same street. Where are the helmeted pedestrians?

Believing that a helmet is essential for cycling, but not for other things that are just as risky, is oblivious. Yes, you can fall and hit your head while cycling, and maybe, just maybe, a helmet can prevent head trauma in that case. But the same goes for many other activities that most people would consider it insane to wear a helmet for!

We have cycle helmets because they make an easy buck for helmet manufacturers and retailers, plus those organizations that get paid to promote them. So wear a helmet if it suits you, but don't be a tool of folks who have only their own interests at heart. And be sure to wear it when you go up on a ladder, or go out walking, because you need it even more at those times.
 
For every single person in the USA who dies on a bicycle, fifty die in their cars.
Car speeds are significantly higher, plus there are more than 50 times the number of cars than there are bicycles. If you were to calculate the ratio in MILES, the spread would be even bigger.

The ratios of head injuries to other injuries are similar. When is the last time you saw a person wearing a helmet to drive a car, outside of a race?

The automobile equivalent is to wear one's seatbelt. If you wear your seatbelt, you greatly reduce your risk of head injury from hitting the steering wheel in a front end crash or hitting the roof in a roll-over... or from getting thrown from the car.

Working from a ladder or showering in a clawfoot tub puts you at more risk of head injury, per time of exposure, than riding a bicycle. Do you wear a helmet for those things?

While you might hit your head and get a concussion slipping in the tub, you're not going 25-30 MPH (or more). Head trauma is possible, but the potential severity is significantly less.

Walking along a public street is three times more lethal than riding a bike along the same street. Where are the helmeted pedestrians?

what are the risks you face while walking? Getting hit by a runaway car? Getting shot in a drive-by? Getting hit by someone illegally riding a bicycle on the sidewalk? Injuries from these sorts of accidents are more likely to be body injuries anyway.

Believing that a helmet is essential for cycling, but not for other things that are just as risky, is oblivious. Yes, you can fall and hit your head while cycling, and maybe, just maybe, a helmet can prevent head trauma in that case. But the same goes for many other activities that most people would consider it insane to wear a helmet for!

It's not even "how likely is a head injury", it's a matter of how potentially severe it would be within circumstances.

We have cycle helmets because they make an easy buck for helmet manufacturers and retailers, plus those organizations that get paid to promote them. So wear a helmet if it suits you, but don't be a tool of folks who have only their own interests at heart. And be sure to wear it when you go up on a ladder, or go out walking, because you need it even more at those times.

I bet the people whose lives were saved by wearing a helmet don't feel like tools.
 
Thanks for sharing your stories. There are lots of things you can do on a MotoredBike that can give you the thrill of a lifetime. Not wearing a helmet is something that can make all those memories disappear. As some say "Choose wisely".
 
I'm glad my post has created serious discussion...my story...not very exciting. I was 10 or 11 riding my Hawthorn cruiser (wish I still had that bike) when I rolled over a small rock and went down. I vaguely remember some man helping me home and my mom coming home and asking why I was crying. I don't remember much but the doctor said I had a concussion. I fully recovered...that was back in the 60's when helmets were never even considered for bicycles. Later on in the 70's I was dirt riding on a small motorcycle and I was wearing a Bell Star (180) when I went down at a slow speed. The helmet literally saved my neck as there was a sharp piece of metal sticking out of the ground and and it would have sliced the artery in my neck if I had not been wearing my helmet. I still have that helmet with the 4" gouge in it.
 
Helmet on a MB is a very good idea with great potential upside and very little downside.

The only problem I can imagine with wearing a helmet is that the rider might feel safer and be willing to go faster or drive riskier than he would without one.

I recently read a poll on this site about the 'ideal' safe top speed for MB. I was surprised at how many people feel 30 MPH (or even faster) is safe on a MB.

To me, a crash on a bicycle at 30+ MPH is just too risky. I can go 28 MPH top speed but I intentionally ride about 15-18 MPH most of the time and remind myself that I'm not in a race; I'm just enjoying the freedom and scenery from the comfort of my recumbent MB.
 
Helmet on a MB is a very good idea with great potential upside and very little downside.

The only problem I can imagine with wearing a helmet is that the rider might feel safer and be willing to go faster or drive riskier than he would without one.
.

For some, wearing a helmet might give you a false sense of security and a sense of invulnerability, but for others, a helmet will make you ride safer because you are feeling more responsible than others who are not wearing helmets.

Just like with drivers' attitudes to cyclists wearing helmets-- some say that a cyclist with a helmet gets more respect from cagers, others think that a cyclist with a helmet is "ignored" by drivers because the drivers assume the rider is less likely to do something stupid... (with "ignored" meaning "not seen", which leads to more accidents, not just injuries...)

I'd rather wear gear, drive legally and responsibly, and assume the cars can't see me...
 
While you might hit your head and get a concussion slipping in the tub, you're not going 25-30 MPH (or more). Head trauma is possible, but the potential severity is significantly less.

A bicycle helmet is designed to partially mitigate (that is, to make survivable) a 14mph impact (velocity of a freefall from 6 feet; basically the speed your head hits if you collapse from a standing position). That is what the tests are designed to mimic, and that's all bicycle helmets are certified to do for you.

Do not ascribe magical powers to bicycle helmets! And do not believe cycling is more dangerous than other common activities you don't wear a helmet for, because there are data that show otherwise. Failure Analysis Associates and others compile this data, some digests of which are available here and there on the web. You'd be surprised how many everyday activities are more lethal than bicycling.

Be skeptical of the hype surrounding helmets, especially bicycle helmets. Ask yourself why, now that half of all cyclists wear them, just as many cyclists per capita die in accidents as back when zero percent of cyclists wore them. It's a fact.

Chalo
 
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