westman2003

Riding to work today when I hit some gravel, a curb and to make a long story short, crashed. Only damage to me is my pride and a some road rash on my knee. I remember skidding along on the ground and my helmet protecting me. My head bears no scratches or damage thanks to the helmet.

Other exciting things were a few acessories are a bit crunched (head light, front blinky) and my back tire went flat which I changed in record time (still made it to work in time!!!). Most important though....

THE BIKE IS OK!!!!!!

Anyway helmets work, I know I'm preaching to the choir but I sure love mine as I type this.

JohnBrooking

Congratulations on not being more injured. This sounds like exactly the type of accident helmets are designed to protect you in (low speed, low impact). It's nice when the system works.

eubi

I'll sit back and wait for the fireworks.

Glad you and your bike aren't hurt too badly, westman.

slvoid

Some people might argue that you should've been injured by "rotational forces." But I won't, glad you're ok.
I went head first into pavement last year, cracked the front of my helmet, cracked 2 ribs, got back on and made it to work 10 minutes late.

JohnBrooking

Show-off!

OldShacker

One of my fellow cyclist said that on his way to work he crashed and got up and checked the bike he said then got on and parked his bike at work. He unclipped his helmet and found that it was cracked and the outer shell slipped right off in his hand.
He said that the doctors found some head and neck trauma. The helmet did its job. We can thank his wife for taking him to the doctors and the LBS that replaced the helmet free just for bring it in. Now we have fun with him by telling him that he lost time and that aliens abducted him.

christie133

Glad you're not too hurt. I've cracked 5 helmets in various wrecks on the road and on my mtn bike. I swear I'm a little loopier than I used to be. But had I not been wearing a helmet on any of those occasions, I would probably not be here to be so loopy. Does that last sentence sound loopy, or is it just me?

closetbiker

They sure work well up to and including the specifications they are designed and tested to. It's too bad so few understand what those standards are. There would be far less confusion if they did understand both the standards of the design and the forces of impacts.

Beyond those standards, it's purely wishful thinking, kinda like horoscopes and psychics. People take the meanings from themselves rather than from things.

darkmother

I agree. However, I like to think of it this way: There are crashes in which a helmet can prevent or reduce the severity head injuries. For these types of crashes, obviously wearing a helmet is an advantage. Additionally, there are those crashes that are severe enough to make a bike helmet useless in preventing a head injury. For these crashes, the helmet may not be adequatly designed, but this does not justify not wearing a helmet while riding. Faced with such a crash, you are screwed either way.

I can understand arguments for more stringent crash testing and certification standards. That is rational. But it seems to me like some have used this line of reasoning to promote the concept of wearing no helmet at all. Sort of like taking the seatbelts out of your car, because they don't guarantee you will survive every potential crash.

closetbiker

Ah, but it seems there is a feeling of equation between seatbelts and bike helmets. The concept is the same, but the effectiveness both in testing and in years of real life experience show both have quite different results. Bike helmets have not been nearly as effective as seat belts have been. Perhaps because seat belts are engineered to specs that prevent injury from forces that would be reasonably expected to be present in a collision in an automobile. Bike helmets are marketed as though they prevent injury from forces that would be reasonably expected to be present in a collision on a bicycle but they don't. They just provide protection from a simple, non-accelerated fall to the top of the helmet.

slvoid

That's funny, this guy's real life experience says it worked for him. My real life experience says it worked for me twice. I've hit the ground from both the top and front. Quite a few have hit from the side and back. If it "just" protected from a fall to the "top", then I should have horrible face rash/cracked the front of my skull. Obviously, the chicks in real life at work say I'm beautiful, so this is not the case. As you can see, I'm gorgeous.

slvoid

Well said, I like to sum it up as, you're damned if you don't and you're damned if you do but the consequences of not wearing one are greater than wearing one.

closetbiker

Que sera, sera.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

The sky is not falling, and there is no magic hat.

slvoid

You're the only person here saying it's a magic hat. For everyone else, it's just another piece of protection, like gloves.

operator

Yes we know "protection" is very important. With rampant stds and whatnot.

slvoid

Oh good god... I don't even want to know what you think the gloves are for then...

sbhikes

Don't you just love that feeling? I've had two motorcycle accidents and aftter each one my first reaction was "Thank god I was wearing a helmet." In fact, that is what I was thinking during the accident each time. After the accident my first reaction was "can I move all my parts?" My second reaction was "where's my bike and is it ok?"

I have yet to have an accident on a bicycle.

closetbiker

I said it's not a magic hat. It is just another peice of protection that works well up to and including the specifications it is designed and tested to. Nothing more.

slvoid

It's your opinion that helmets only work from impacts from the "top".
It's almost everyone else's opinion that HELMETS WORK!
See how that works? Good. No need to continue this pointless discussion any longer.

closetbiker

Thanks for letting me know my opinion.

I feel better now.



Could you describe for me how they test helmets to meet standards for bodies like Snell, ANSI, and CPSC?

I'm also very curious how you came to say,

Where did I say this? Can you show me? Or is this your interpretatin of what I posted on this thread? I don't think this is the first time you've said I've said something, when I haven't (or couldn't recall) and you haven't shown me what you've said I've said. I don't want to say you're making things up, but that's what it looks like. Show me I'm mistaken to have this impression.

Dchiefransom

Seat belts hold people in the center of a protective cage. If a helmet could somehow do that for cyclists, then it would make a big difference. I think helmets are about as good as they can get for today's technology.

catatonic

Basically, Helmets just provide protection for your head...nothing more.

It's more comparable to someone driving a hardtop car as opposed to a convertible. Anyone remember when convertibles were no longer being made due to safety issues...thus spawning the birth of the T-Top? Given now we have the convertible again...but the comparison is a bit better than seatbelts

The bike helmet is like the hardtop. It give you a little something to reduce the chance of getting messed up as much. Even in car rollovers, hardtops are sometimes of little use...there was a porsche flip video I saw where the entire roof collapsed, nearly killing the driver...goes to show even car roofs are not failsafe.

Don't expect helmets to be failsafe....but they do what they are meant to...and really they aren't making things harder for the rider either. Therre are helmets with killer ventilation, easy adjustment/strpping setups, and even nice visible colors for the commuters out there. Given it might mess up your hair...but so will wind while moving at any decent rate of speed (well, unless you use twelve cans of hairspray everymorning...then I guess that would be an exception)...so its a moot point.

FotoTomas

Well I can vouch for it working in a minor crash with the impact squarely on the back. Police bike school and learning to jump curbs. I jumped too early and the bike hit the curb and stopped. I did not. The bike twisted and I entertained the rest of the class with my fall. The butt took the brunt but the head hit hard as I rolled and the dent in the back was big. Got a new helmet out of that one. Dang glad I had it on.

darkmother

Helmets have saved my butt (well really my head....butthead?) a number of times. I don't ride without one anymore. Still, it would be nice to see some more realistic crash testing. I'm pretty sure there is a lot of room for improvent.

FLBandit

I've been fortunate enought to field test both motorcycle and bicycle helmets a few times! I'm happy to say in each instance I was glad to have been wearing one. Granted, they won't protect you in all situations, but given my record, I'll take all the protection I can get.