| Author | Message | ||
     Hmartin |
As a member of the Transportation Research Board, I receive notifications of various transportation reports when they come out. Today, I received a link to this one: http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/Motorcycle_Helmet_Use_and_Head_and_Facial_Injuries_162485.aspx While scanning through the report, I was a bit surprised when I came upon this figure on page 22.  The helmetless wind-in-the-hair guys would probably look at this and think, "yep, lot of good a helmet does if you still end up in the hospital." Only after you dig a little further into the report do you see that it only examines the people who were actually treated for injuries and does not include the nearly 4% who were killed or the 16% who walked away, two sets of numbers that, when added back in, would probably cause the Still, it seems like there should be a greater differential between the red bars and the blue bars. If nothing else, though, it shows you that there's a lot more to be concerned about than just your head. Gear up and ride safe out there. (Message edited by hmartin on November 03, 2009) | ||
| Hmartin |
Oops. I got that backwards. I'll fix it. | ||
| Borrowedbike |
12.5 Percent reduction aint bad.. Wonder what the Morgue statistic is? | ||
| J2blue |
I am one who believes more could be done to tabulate data about motorcycle accidents and learn what works and does not work to protect riders. I was saddened to find out that the data is lost in the mix with other vehicle types in most states. Though I will always have a libertarian bent about safety legislation, for those who, like me, want to wear protective gear such information is vital. | ||
| Skinstains |
It seems simple to me. Hit yourself in the head with a hammer and see if it hurts. Now try it with a polystyrene lined fiberglass cover over your head. Duh. Being a big fan of personal freedom(s) I think we should certainly have the choice though. | ||
| Xb12xmike |
WTF...Just force people to wear helmets. Just like the laws forcing people to smoke outside. (sarcasm) | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
I would have thought the lower extremities would be even worse, so many people ride with just jeans. I'm guilty of that quite often. I would figured bodily injuries would be down on helmet wearers. I wouldn't expect people not wearing helmets to be real concerned about wearing other gear. But then I guess all the squids that ride with full faced helmets, shorts, t-shirts and sneakers kind of change the statistics. | ||
| Kilroy |
Not_Purple- you make a good point. A large number of sport bike riders do exactly as you say with the helmet and shorts and flip flops. At least a harley rider would probably have on jeans and some sort of leather vest or jacket, helmet or not. | ||
| Cataract2 |
In all seriousness guys. I've seen my fair share of cruiser riders and sport riders with no helmet. What makes it worse on the sport riders side is normally those not wearing their helmet seem to like having it strapped to the side of their bike. | ||
| Aeholton |
Helmet- No Helmet is too general. Would like to see full face helmet vs. half helmet vs. no helmet. Some of those statistics were probably with little bitty brain buckets, skewing stats. | ||
| Rambuell |
First hand experience last Friday nite. One of the guys that I ride with all the time had a deer run into the front end of his Ultra while he was doing 75mph between Talihina and Mena, AR. No helmets for him or his GF. Both alive, but pretty beat up, broken legs, arms, etc. First person on the scene was a nurse on her way home. Not their time to go.... He commented that I had my helmet when I visited him at the hospital. My comment back to him was if he was going to ride again w/o one? He said he wasn't! We rode home from Milwaukee last year; I wore my helmet the whole time; he grudging put his on only in Missouri. He has more toys than he can play with, but never experienced anything like this before. I'll prepared for the cool weather; first time ever rode with chaps, light jacket, no gloves, etc. Riding at dusk in a hurry to get to the hotel. Fortunately, we were able to laugh about it; you can't fix stupid! | ||
| Fast1075 |
I have been down at high speed twice...I am absolutely convinced that without a good full face helmet (both occasions) I would be dead...period. Once was at a race...mechanical failure caused a crash at 125+....walked away thanks to my helmet and the generous cow that donated her skin to Bates. Slid to a stop without hitting anything except getting tagged on the top of the head with some part or other of the bike...tore up my leathers, boots, gloves and helmet...I got some good bruises but nothing skinned up or broken. The other was on the street...very cold weather so I was bundled up like an eskimo...fairly low speed/hit a dog...short slide into a concrete curb head first...got up and stumbled away with a moderate concussion...dog didn't do as well. | ||
| Aesquire |
Last motorcycle accident I responded to was right after I re-certed in first responder life support. The day after my vacation ( I re-cert on vacation, fun, fun, fun. ) a lady on her sportster was hit by a minivan about 40 feet behind me, while I was pulled over at the side of the road at work. Weird how I knew what happened by the sound alone. Short version...she had jeans, levi's jacket & short helmet. Hurt hip/leg, and some scrapes, but no notable head injuries. Lid was dinged, and I told her to make it a wall trophy & not to use it again. I'm really a big full face lid guy, Though I do ride with modular sometimes, and usually mock skid lids. In this case, it worked, & a full face would have made no difference. Lucky lady. Any is better than none, I guess. NY has helmet laws. Local squids wear color matched full face helmets, shorts, tank tops & sneakers or flip flops. We call them "skin graft recipients". In no helmet law states, they call them "organ donors". As it harms no other, do as you will. |
