Advocacy & Safety - Bike helmet crushed, but head fine

From the Madison, Wsiconsin, newspaper...

A white paneled delivery truck ran over a UW-Madison graduate student's head on Division Street Friday afternoon and, except for a concussion, he wasn't hurt.

Ryan Lipscomb, 26, said he was riding his bicycle pretty fast down the East Isthmus Bike Path where it parallels Eastwood Drive on Madison's east side just before 3 p.m. Eastwood had a green light, so the crosswalk for the bike path showed a white walk sign, Lipscomb said.

He saw the large truck, the kind that usually makes deliveries to offices, coming down Eastwood, preparing to make a right turn onto Division Street. Lipscomb said he could tell the truck wasn't going to stop. So Lipscomb slammed on his breaks, flipping his bike and throwing himself into the street. He landed right at the intersection of Eastwood and Division.

The truck ran over his head.

"I didn't see it coming, but I sure felt it roll over my head. It feels really strange to have a truck run over your head."

His helmet, a Giro, was crushed, but Lipscomb's head was fine.

Madison Police Department Sgt. Chris Boyd said the officer at the scene urged Lipscomb to keep the helmet. He did. It is all flattened and mangled and broken, unlike his head.

Even though the truck did not stop, Boyd initially refused to call the incident a hit-and-run. She said the police were not sure that the truck driver knew that someone had been hit. But Sgt. Bernie Gonzalez said later in the evening that the accident report calls it a hit-and-run.

Lipscomb agrees with Gonzalez.

"The truck driver definitely would have known. You know when you run over a curb and my head was definitely higher than a curb." Moreover, Lipscomb said, he was already in the street as the truck was turning. "He had to have seen me."

He was taken to University Hospital, but was released by about 6 p.m. "I'm OK except for a concussion," he said Friday night about 10 p.m.

He better hope he is. Lipscomb, who is studying medical physics in the School of Medicine, has an exam Monday and another Tuesday.

This is not his only brush with headache-causing fame this spring. Lipscomb is the treasurer of the UW-Madison Teaching Assistants' Association's political action committee. Mike Quieto, who worked as a limited-term election aid in the City Clerk's Office in March and April, is accused of forging Lipscomb's name three times to the organization's campaign finance report. The Ethics Board is tentatively scheduled to hear the case later this month.

And next week, Bike to Work Week begins. But Lipscomb didn't say whether he was going to get back on the saddle on Monday.

<looks around for closetbiker to troll this thread

Helmets are a good thing. this is an oddball case, but it's definitely a good thing he had one on

<looks around for closetbiker to troll this thread

;)

http://members.shaw.ca/jtubman/deadhelmet.html

I'm happy to hear that.

I am not buying this story. Call me a skeptic.

I am not buying this story. Call me a skeptic.
Call 'em and find out.

http://www.rhinelanderdailynews.com/articles/2007/05/12/ap-state-wi/d8p3j4f83.txt



John

So does that mean his skull saved his life because the helmet failed miserably?

Helmets are designed to break i believe.

I am not buying this story. Call me a skeptic.
Yikes. We are in agreement, again. Yeah sure this event happened just as the reporter claims; did his gloves save his hands too?

Sounds a lot fishy to me. Real hard to believe that the truck tires actually ran over the helmet, with the cyclist's head inside at the time; crushed the helmet and left head intact.

No, no, it's true. Remember, helmets are magic! Styrofoam is a strong as steel!

No, no, it's true. Remember, helmets are magic! Styrofoam is a strong as steel!
Apparently better than steel! It can be crushed yet miraculously protect its contents from also being crushed.

I have magic jeans too!

http://www.carlosandlily.com/albums/Nangnooch/Nangnooch_41_Lily_under_elephant_foot.sized.jpg

A delivery truck like that would weigh about 26,000 lbs. That is 6500 lbs per tire. I cannot believe that a helmet or a skull could withstand 6500 lbs.

http://www.gazetteextra.com/mangledhelmet051407.asp

Truck runs over cyclist's head - leaves only helmet mangled

(Published Monday, May 14, 2007 11:00:35 AM CST)
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. - A delivery truck ran over a cyclist's head, leaving him only with a concussion and a mangled helmet.

Ryan Lipscomb, 26, was shaken up, especially after he saw the condition of his helmet.

"I didn't see it coming, but I sure felt it roll over my head," he said. "It feels really strange to have a truck run over your head."

Lipscomb, a graduate student in medical physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was riding swiftly down a bike path in Madison Friday afternoon. As he approached an intersection where he said he had a green light, he noticed the truck preparing to make a right turn in front of him.

The truck wasn't going to stop, Lipscomb said, so he slammed on his brakes, flipping his bike and landing in the street.

A moment later the truck rolled over his head - and kept going.

His black Giro helmet was flattened, tread marks visible on the cracked frame.

Lipscomb was taken to the hospital and released about three hours later.

"I'm OK except for a concussion," he said Friday night.

Police initially declined to call the incident a hit-and-run, saying it was unclear whether the driver knew someone had been hit. But Sgt. Bernie Gonzalez later updated the accident report to include the designation.

Lipscomb said he was already in the street as the truck was turning.

"The truck driver definitely would have known," he said. "You know when you run over a curb and my head was definitely higher than a curb."

A message left for police spokesman Mike Hanson was not immediately returned Sunday.

I never heard of that happening before.

That's a good reason to wear a helmet, if you don't already wear one.

I've only been to Madison Wisconsin once, and that was by train, out of Chicago.

If his helmet was flattened, how did his head not get flattened?

I'd imagine the truck tire was only engaged with the very peak of the helmet and his head was more of less ejected from the helmet as it was compressed, like a pea from a pod.

Kinda unclear, is the traffic light for benefit of the bike path or is the bike path exiting parallel to the street, like a sidewalk.

He's one lucky fella none the less.

I'd imagine the truck tire was only engaged with the very peak of the helmet and his head was more of less ejected from the helmet as it was compressed, like a pea from a pod.
That is one possibility. Another guess is that the cyclist fell to the ground to avoid a collision with the turning truck, his head hit the ground, the helmet came off (possibly even before he hit the ground) the helmet went under the tire getting crushed. Cyclist is groggy from the concussion he suffered and doesn't know what really happened but sees tire track on crushed helmet and comes to the conclussion that his head was somehow protected from the weight of a truck by the crushed helmet. No less far fetched than the story in the newspaper.

Helmet saved him from nasty head injury either from falling or getting run over. You never know what will happen next. Best to be prepared wearing a helmet.

I'm guessing the anti-helmet crowd will say the outcome would have been the same either way.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/05/14/national/a133939D73.DTL

his head was somehow protected from the weight of a truck by the crushed helmet.

Regardless, I doubt what is essentially a stylish Styrofoamcup is going to prevent ones head from being crushed.

The purpose of the helmet is to absorb impact, which it does by deforming.

I once had a car run over my ankle. I was fine.

crosspost:
I once had my ankle run over by a car. It was fine.

I'm guessing the anti-helmet crowd will say the outcome would have been the same either way.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/05/14/national/a133939D73.DTL

From the article:



[the cyclist] was riding swiftly down a bike path in Madison Friday afternoon. As he approached an intersection where he said he had a green light, he noticed the truck preparing to make a right turn in front of him.

The truck wasn't going to stop, Lipscomb said, so he slammed on his brakes, flipping his bike and landing in the street.

A moment later the truck rolled over his head — and kept going.

Folks, please be careful at path/street intersections. It's probably not wise to assume the ROW.

I'm guessing the anti-helmet crowd will say the outcome would have been the same either way.

Nah, I think they would have stopped.

glad you are ok! quite a story...
i thought i heard that madison was one of the better, bicycle friendly areas in the USA and assume this is a freak occurance.
t

i have had my foot run over by a big moving truck and nothing broke, just sore

Giro gets million$$$ in free advertising!:) http://www.comcast.net/news/strange/index.jsp?cat=STRANGE&fn=/2007/05/14/663083.html&cvqh=tues_cyclist

Details, photo, and local discussion at http://madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/133934. See the map (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=eastwood+and+division,+madison+wi&sll=37.27183,-121.991921&sspn=0.007283,0.012639&ie=UTF8&ll=43.092361,-89.350932&spn=0.003342,0.006319&t=h&z=18&om=1) too.

The cyclist was riding "pretty fast" on a multi-use path (first mistake). He saw the truck preparing to turn right at the green light. The cyclist was in the truck's right-rear blind spot (second mistake) and didn't brake until the truck had already begun its turning motion (third mistake). The cyclist braked incorrectly (fourth mistake) and lost control of his vehicle.

He fell, with his helmet beneath the truck's right-rear tire. A helmet doesn't have enough structure to protect a head from a truck's tire. I suspect (speculation) the truck's tire didn't run over the part of the helmet containing the cyclist's head. That bit of foam wouldn't make the slightest bump, not even as much as running over a curb. There was never any reason for the truck driver to look behind to the right, either before or after the intersection.

If cyclists use such dangerous facilities as multi-use paths, they must be particularly careful at intersections. I sincerely wish Lipscomb well, but he needs to learn to handle his bike and learn to interact with traffic.

This is also very helpful from time to time: COOL TOOL (http://www.bikeforums.net/search.php?)

I was just on my way here to post that. That guy is really lucky, the helmet is trashed. I was going to link to cnn because they had it in their "offbeat" news section.

I'd imagine the truck tire was only engaged with the very peak of the helmet and his head was more of less ejected from the helmet as it was compressed, like a pea from a pod.


That is one possibility ... the helmet came off (possibly even before he hit the ground) the helmet went under the tire getting crushed.

I think both of the above are the most realistic. But the article does say:

A white paneled delivery truck ran over a UW-Madison graduate student's head

Aha...

Did the MSNBC clip have footage of the accident? I couldn't find the story.

I love internet spam. :rolleyes: If the cycle helmet was smashed in little pieces. His head couldn't have been in the helmet at the time of impact. Or his head would have also been smashed. There is no way the human skull will survive being ran over by a 24 or 26000 pound delivery truck.

My guess is the helmet flew off the boys head and the delivery truck ran over the helmet. I weigh 180 pounds. I bought a bike helmet a couple of years back. I stepped on the helmet one day and it cracked . And I only weigh 180 pounds :rolleyes: I gave $65.00 for a completely worthless eggshell.

If I crack a bike helmet weighing only 180 pounds. What is a delivery truck going to do to one?

there is no way that dude's head was run over. they ran over the helmet.

My theory is that as the truck tires were crushing the helmet, the guy's head was squeezed out, just like if you pinch a watermelon seed between your fingers, and it shoots off to the side. (Nice mental image, huh?)

This story reminded me of a friend of mine in high school (would have been back in 1972 or 73). He was passing a school bus while riding his motorcycle. Unfortunately, the school bus turned left right in front of him. He basically ran into the side of the school bus (at fairly slow speed, though). The bike went under the bus, whereas he more or less dropped like a stone. As he's laying there, the school bus ran over both of his feet.

When he got to the hospital, a nurse said, "My God, his feet have been flattened out!" But in reality he just had size 15 feet, and there was nothing wrong with them.