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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 09:10 
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Importance of Wearing a Motorcycle Helmet
Helmets:
Decrease the possibility of accidents
Decrease the harshness of injury
Helmet decreases the injuries which causes at the time of motorbike accidents. Helmets are designed to reduce and protect the head from the impact of an accident
Are you agree on it?


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:58 
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johndriving wrote:
Importance of Wearing a Motorcycle Helmet
Helmets:
Decrease the possibility of accidents
Decrease the harshness of injury
Helmet decreases the injuries which causes at the time of motorbike accidents. Helmets are designed to reduce and protect the head from the impact of an accident
Are you agree on it?


Personally I never wear a motorcycle helmet. That is because I never ride a motor cycle. :) But, if I did, I fail to see how a wearing a helmet would decrease the possibility of an accident. In fact, because of "risk compensation" I would not be surprised to see the possibility increased.

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 12:45 
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I would have to disagree with the first one - how does wearing a helmet reduce the possibility of having an accident? Some claim that full face helmets reduce visibility, which if true has to be a negative - but worth while IMHO.

The others I have no problem with - always wore one when I rode a bike!

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 13:35 
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One way a helmet could prevent an accident is by stopping grit or other objects from causing loss of vision. It's function is more akin to wearing goggles when using power tools when looked at that way.

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 13:42 
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Toltec wrote:
One way a helmet could prevent an accident is by stopping grit or other objects from causing loss of vision. It's function is more akin to wearing goggles when using power tools when looked at that way.

:yesyes: I like riding with my visor open (when my bike will start :x ), but always end up with insect bits in my eyes. I've been hit on the helmet (stop sniggering at the back :roll: ) by bumble bees a few times and it's like being hit with a pebble, wouldn't like it without a lid. They don't half reduce peripheral vision though, but keep your head warm


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 16:56 
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adam.L wrote:
:yesyes: I like riding with my visor open (when my bike will start :x ), but always end up with insect bits in my eyes. I've been hit on the helmet (stop sniggering at the back :roll: ) by bumble bees a few times and it's like being hit with a pebble, wouldn't like it without a lid. They don't half reduce peripheral vision though, but keep your head warm


Yes. Bumble bees can be a mugger on a pedal bike at downhill speed. I suppose that they come of worse though. :(

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 20:15 
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adam.L wrote:
I've been hit on the helmet (stop sniggering at the back :roll: )

(Must resist; must resist!!!) Image

Look - I've had a long hard day!

:D

Infamy, infamy! They've all got it in for me...

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 23:19 
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:welcome: johndriving
johndriving wrote:
Helmets: Decrease the possibility of accidents

How exactly? The wearing of a helmet cannot do this (as others too have voiced), and so might I assume that you mean perhaps : it might reduce the severity of injury experienced in an accident ?
johndriving wrote:
Decrease the harshness of injury
Possibly to the head but not elsewhere.
For C1 (BMW) owners especially the wearing of a helmet has been shown to possibly cause additional injury in an accident as no helmet was designed to be worn when riding the bike. So when your head and back line up against the back rest (in an accident), the head is further out due to the helmet and so the spine can be mis-aligned. Not good at all ! (As the UK insist on a helmet being worn on all 'motorbikes')
johndriving wrote:
Helmet decreases the injuries which causes at the time of motorbike accidents. Helmets are designed to reduce and protect the head from the impact of an accident Are you agree on it?
Of course the helmet cannot decrease the injuries, but might prevent some injury as the helmet may cushion the 'blow' that the head is experiencing (for the majority of motorcyclists when involved in an accident). The polystyrene cushions the forces applied, and in doing so the skull has been prevent from experiencing that direct force. It also helps prevent grazing and skin burns. The cushioned blow is still felt in the head and the inner brain can still receive 'bruising' and injury, but it is less than the direct impact might have caused were there no helmet worn.

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 00:50 
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I guess you would want some protection if you rode into one of these....
Image

I found this under my bonnet when I went to top up the washer bottle while in France - but they can be found in the UK too!

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 09:39 
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That’s one hec of a bug!

I am quite certain my helmet has saved me from what I’m sure would have been a pretty a severe injury or two. I think there are some big rip offs in the helmet world when you consider how they are mass produced. The purists will tell you there’s a huge difference between the one I bought recently for £35 and a £500 Shoei. Sure, there’s a difference but not £465’s worth!

The essential ingredients are a polystyrene inner and a hard outer shell of polycarbonate or, better still, fibre glass. But when you weigh up: -

The possibility of me having an accident
The chance it is going to include severely bumping my head
Last but not least, the difference to my head a £500 helmet will make over a £30 one

I can’t justify the extra cost.

They also say you should change them about every three years, ‘they’ being helmet manufacturers no doubt.

I heard a tip recently to breath new life into a helmet by submersing it overnight in a bath of warm water and mild baby liquid and then leaving it to dry out for a couple of days. I also usually wear a cotton cap thing over my bald bonce to stop any oil or sweat leaching into the fabric in the first place.

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 15:04 
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Big Tone wrote:
That’s one hec of a bug!

The £50 head or £500 head debate

Tone I agree to a certain extent with what you say. Helmets of any type with a standard attached must reach that standard. So the price you are willing to pay will not reduce, or necessarily increase, the performance of said helmet.

The main factor for me is helmet fit. I have the misfortune of being an outsize rider. The range of helmets available for me to try is very limited (I had to import an American DOT standard helmet, to get one that fit, 4 years ago at the start of my riding. I could only find an Arai in the UK at the time and that was painful after 5 minutes. Although not technically legal I was told that the chance of being pulled for the use of one is next to nonexistant). So the price I have to pay is in the higher end of the band. The number of helmets available in my size is now on the increase but still lees than a hand full readily available to try.

The boss of Arai US believes that most riders, that use helmets, are riding with a helmet that is too large. He says that it is a comfort thing and due to improper fit. I can understand that owing to my difficulty in finding one.

Would I ride a bike (MC or pedal) without a helmet? Probably not. One is a requirement, one is a choice. Having been off my MC in a lowside and my pedal bike in a crash off road, where the head has connected with the ground, I was glad I was wearing them. Did they prevent the accident? No. Did they cause the accident? I do not think so.


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 15:38 
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Big Tone wrote:
That’s one hec of a bug!


It is called an Elephant Hawk Moth - not because of it's size, but because the caterpillar looks like an elephants trunk!
That bug alone is good enough reason to have a helmet on!

However, I once arrived at an accident scene where a motorcycle had suffered a blow out and thrown the rider and pillion off into the road, and the riders full face helmet had suffered a great deal of abrasion of the front chin part.
That was enough to convince me that full face was worth the loss of visibility - which you could overcome by deft head movements anyway!

Anyone here prefer open face lids?

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 16:16 
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Ernest Marsh wrote:
Anyone here prefer open face lids?
No thanks and for the reason you gave Ernest, although I have worn them and they do make you feel a lot more 'free'. I certainly wouldn't outlaw them.


theboxers wrote:
The main factor for me is helmet fit.

Yes, the current advice is to have a squashed or pinched face but I don’t like it.

The cheap new one I bought is probably too big for me but it’s great for being able to hear what is going on around me. Why they have never made a helmet with some kind of vents at the side, like a fish’s gills perhaps, to allow some audio input but prevent the whoosh of air noise I’ll never know. Any aerodynamic/sound experts here? It also has a tall and wide opening for good field of vision which again I like.

The only drawback is the first time I wore it I thought there was something wrong with my engine. I could hear it so well I thought the shims were going to pop out or something but I’m used to it now. In short I think they are getting a lot wrong, as though the people who design them don’t actually ride or just start to mass produce a theoretical idea.

If I had the money the nicest and, allegedly, quietest one I have tried is the Shuberth. Can someone lend me £600?

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 16:47 
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Big Tone wrote:
If I had the money the nicest and, allegedly, quietest one I have tried is the Shuberth. Can someone lend e £600?

I have a Schuberth C3. All day comfortable for me, although not all day wearable. I usually wear it for upto 2hrs at a time (with a 10-15 minute cigarette break) and for as much as 16 hrs a day (touring Norway). I would try to find somewhere to try one on then give Helmetcity a call. Still not cheap :cry: , but cheaper £450 :oops:

As for the open face design. I have posted this pic before. It is from a study of accidents in the states and shows impact point frequency on motorcycle helmets.#


Would I want one? I'm with Churchill :lol:


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 18:42 
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Interesting thanks theboxers. I notice one zone of the picture in particular, (0.4%), which has memories for me...

Back in 1979/80, when I was courting my wife-to-be, I saw a picture of a post mortem from a male biker. Debbie, (real name), worked in medical laboratory science, in haematology, and brought it back to show me since we were bikers ourselves.

It was mysterious because from the outside this young man had no signs whatsoever of anything which could have explained his quick death, however there was a small mark on the top of his helmet. I remember the picture vividly!

It showed his scalp parted and pulled right back. You could see his lovely, dark, young, hair protruding from the sides. The top of his skull had been removed which revealed that what must have happened.

A driver had pulled out in front of him and he rotated in the air landing in, as near as makes no difference, an upright position on top of his head which was the first impact with the road. You could clearly see how the spine had had pushed up into the skull and shifted part of his brain to one side. Another ‘brother’ gone and life sentence for a broken family, and for what? :cry:

It was the first time I saw something like it and it upset me, not for the last time, at how senseless and preventable it was and made me realise just how fragile we all really are. It’s why I firmly believe that part of any true road safety policy should include education and ideally, if I had my way, graphic images and/or videos to get the message across to the youth of today.

Maybe those early images and all-too-many subsequent reminders are what have made me careful and survive the road jungle, I don't know. Maybe their sacrifices are what have made me realise and understand just how dangerous and precious life is to us all. I think it’s why I get so pissed off about current road safety initiatives and the use/abuse of speed cameras which capture more dolphins than they ever do sharks. :x

Sorry if that story was a bit too graphic for a forum and any young audience :( But then again, maybe it's what we should be doing more of...

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 21:43 
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I heard second or third hand of a guy, middle aged to 60's I think, out for a ride with his mrs and had a low speed off (20-30 mph) and ended up paraplegic. They said the rim of his lid had acted like a lever as his head was push back and so levered his spine appart :cry: . Bad news. Having has a spinal injury, these things always make me feel rather sad


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 08:02 
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theboxers wrote:
I usually wear it for upto 2hrs at a time (with a 10-15 minute cigarette break)


Do I need to point out the irony contained within that sentence :(

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 18:53 
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dcbwhaley wrote:
theboxers wrote:
I usually wear it for upto 2hrs at a time (with a 10-15 minute cigarette break)


Do I need to point out the irony contained within that sentence :(

:P


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 20:29 
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Hmmm...

It’s interesting that smoking has a label which lets everyone know they don’t give a hoot about their own health while I could be sitting here after having had a double bacon sandwich cooked in lard downed with 10 pints and the most work I do in an average day is when I strain to let the spoils of my unhealthy lifestyle out.

I guess the logical conclusion to helmet wearing, smoking, driving, sex, or pretty much anything these days, is to shoot yourself because something or some aspect of your life is going to be unhealthy and kill you one day anyway.

Musings; just musings... :scratchchin:

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 20:41 
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Big Tone wrote:
Hmmm...

It’s interesting that smoking has a label which lets everyone know they don’t give a hoot about their own health while I could be sitting here after having had a double bacon sandwich cooked in lard downed with 10 pints and the most work I do in an average day is when I strain to let the spoils of my unhealthy lifestyle out.

I guess the logical conclusion to helmet wearing, smoking, driving, sex, or pretty much anything these days, is to shoot yourself because something or some aspect of your life is going to be unhealthy and kill you one day anyway.

Musings; just musings... :scratchchin:


Or you'll take their advice ,wrap your self in cotton wool and die of boredom ,or some common ailment you didn't get an immunity as a kid ( because of being wrapped on cotton wool) . :roll:

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