Originally Posted by
Stealthammer
A helmet won't protect your brain, but it will protect your skull. You choose. Is it better to survive with a concussion that possibly leaves you living with a brain injury (and possible long term "disabilities") or would you rather have a crushed cranium that causes your death? It's a simple question. Its the same question that every motorcycle/automotive racer, ski racer, or football/hockey organization must answer, and they are require the competitor to wear helmets to allow them the best chance of surviving. If you would rather "bleed out" within your skull than to have to live with a brain injury and any possible debilitations that resulted, leave the helmet at home. Its your choice. But choose wisely grasshopper...
A helmet will not protect my skull in a car/bike collision, which is the most likely to cause head injury to begin with (and seriously, I ride safely and use lights at night, so the chances are extremely close to 0 to begin with). Read the links, the helmets are tested with a 20 lb weight in them dropped from 2 meters on a flat surface (that's 11 mph for those who don't want to do the math). When they are tested on curbs, they are dropped from a height of 1 meter, or 6 mph. Now first off, I am rarely going less than 13 mph, and usually more. Speed limits where I ride are never under 25 mph, so that's how fast the cars are going. I weigh 225 lbs., not 20, and cars weigh upwards of a ton. Can you please explain how a helmet tested at the above limits will save my skull when getting hit at 25 mph by a 2000 lb. vehicle? These are not magic hats, but are subject to the limits of physical science, and physical science says that in real world situations these will protect my skull no better than the cycling cap I always wear. Never mind that the odds of me getting hit like that are so low...but that's another arguement altogether.