Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Once again: just wear a ****ing helmet already

Friday night I got blindsided by a taxi running a red light here in Changwon. Totaled my bike, and I'm in the hospital until monday for observation. Mostly just bumps and bruises, some abrasions, but there also the fact that my helmet was broken in about a dozen places. Given the way it was broken, and given the way I slammed into the taxi (taking out his windshield in the process), this much is true: without it I'd either be dead or have a debilitating brain injury. As it is they kept me here under observation for a few days to make sure I didn't have an intracranial hematoma on my occipital lobe (initial CT scan was inconclusive). So far so good.

When I get out of here I'll borrow my girlfriend's digital camera to photograph the helmet in question. It has assumed a general sort of distorted shape that a canteloupe might have were an elephant to trod upon it lightly.

TL;DR version: WEAR YOUR ****ING HELMET.

Ouch...glad you're okay though, get well soon.

How's condition of the bike?

Damn, is the bike ok?

The police have my bike and the last time I saw it was from about twenty feet away as they were loading my into the ambulance but from what I could tell the frame was shot (Erba! ;_; ), the fork broken, and the bars bent all out of shape. The wheels appeared OK from a distance. I'll know for sure next week probably.

is the aerospoke okay?

just kidding. glad you were wearing your helmet.

Yes. Glad you were wearing your helmet. I've been saved from serious head injury several times by mine. I always put mine on, even if it's just to ride around the block.

This may even get me to change my stance on bike helmets ? I'd like to see the pics. Which brand and model were you wearing ?

Then again, intersections are the most obvious & dangerous locations. I slow for them and look both ways, even when the light is in my favor. Being blindsided, there's no way that was your fault or that you even deserved it, and I hope you or anyone else doesn't take this post out of context going forward for the questions and comments I make in this post. But "blindsided" implies you were unaware, so were you looking ? I've seen too many cyclists assuming that because they have right of way, another's going to yield it to them and they don't look or at a certain point stop looking ? I know that when I ride, I am constantly looking and if there's even a doubt in my mind a car or even a pedestrian is going to demand precedence over me, I stop and let them go first. My assumption is they always go first, in the way I ride the bike. Probably why I've never been hit. I figure the one that gets me will be the drunk that would've run me over even had I been on the sidewalk and walking. A few extra minutes and slower speeds doesn't bother me that much.

Helmet people.

Glad you are relatively ok.

Get well soon, hope you get back on the bike in due time. Thanks for posting this.

Also, what brand/model helmet was it? I wanna buy it.

YEah when I was hit my helmet also shattered. I received a concussion, memory loss, and staples. Too bad I'll never know how I hit my head.

sigh... we all know its true. i just need a helmet i actually LIKE and that is COMFORTABLE, so i will WEAR it. glad youre ok.

The helmet I was wearing was a LAS Kripton. Like this: http://www.lashelmets.com/en/catalog/categories/kripton

The overall fit and build quality are excellent - up there with my previous favorite the Specialized Decibel. Obviously the best helmet is the one that you wear, though.

When I get out of the hospital I'll take some shots of the helmet.

EDIT: Oh, and regarding bein blindsided - I was at a large, T-shaped intersection, I being on the road that crossed the top of the T (not the one that ended there). Oncoming traffic had a left turn arrow which then turned red and my direction got the green. I looked to make sure the intersection was clear, and then continued on. The taxi that hit me was turning left and ran the red light at speed in order to beat the traffic coming from my direction. His lights were off. I didn't see him until the moment of impact.

are you pursuing the taxi driver for damages?

Ouch, a night time collision. Taxi drivers are my favorite drivers (sarcasm).

In this case, I'd go after the taxi driver/cab company.

If the Korean justice system is anything like the one in the States, we'll be hearing about Fugazi's brand new ride, paid for by the taxi company... in about a year.

riding without a helmet in korea seems like it would be suicide. drivers, taxis, scooters, and buses run red lights on a normal basis

I am korean and I visit Korea time to time, and yea, the taxi drivers there are crazy...

I'm glad that you're ok. When I was hit by a car I hit my head on the pavement. A large chunk of my helmet broke off the back. I'm very glad that I had it on or my injuries would have likely been much worse.

Glad to hear that you are ok maan. Dude. Post those pics everywhere and wear it daily man. Ive been hearing HELLA stories lately about people who crashed without helmets. .....its like a warning.....

Other than that, you can replace a bike.
You can't replace your life.

Damn, i'm glad you're ok. Sorry about the bike.
I visit Korea regularly, Seoul mostly, and i'd always wondered what it'd be like to bike there. You don't see many people, if any, biking on the streets. If they are, they're usually riding on the sidewalks. I don't blame them though, like others have said, traffic in Korea is insane. I've never been to Changwon, but I imagine it to be the same. They do, however, have these long bike trails, that alot of people ride, along the Han river which is really nice. There's also bike trails, littered about in Seoul, but for the most part people do not ride in the streets.
Props to you for taking on the insanity that is Korean traffic. Get well soon!

riding without a helmet in korea seems like it would be suicide. drivers, taxis, scooters, and buses run red lights on a normal basis

Another place I can't imagine riding a bike is NYC in a higher traffic area and during rush hour (actually, I envision it more as a cattle drive that could stampede at any given moment where you get trampled ?), even with a helmet. I'd never live in one of those places in the 1st place.

Glad you are relatively ok and hopefully you will have a replacement bike soon and back out there.

Question regarding the helmet....what is the sizing like? I was looking at ordering one and it appears to come in either "S/M" or "L/XL", I just need 60cm...

Another place I can't imagine riding a bike is NYC in a higher traffic area and during rush hour (actually, I envision it more as a cattle drive that could stampede at any given moment where you get trampled ?), even with a helmet. I'd never live in one of those places in the 1st place.

Actually, rush hour is the easiest time to ride when all the cars are stuck in a traffic jam

Ouch...glad you're okay
But in response to your thread title, um, NO!

Riding in Korean traffic definitely took some getting used to and aside from getting hit Friday night I tended to have fewer close calls and such than I did back in the US, but in order for that to be the case I found I had to completely own the situation in traffic. That is, if you take away the option for people to mess with you in traffic here, they basically won't.


Glad you are relatively ok and hopefully you will have a replacement bike soon and back out there.

Question regarding the helmet....what is the sizing like? I was looking at ordering one and it appears to come in either "S/M" or "L/XL", I just need 60cm...

Not sure about the size of my helmet, but I'm sure there's a size chart online somewhere. As for a replacement bike, I'm going to wait until I get to Taiwan before I get anything new (moving there in a couple months).


Ouch...glad you're okay
But in response to your thread title, um, NO!
Best of luck with that. Really. I sincerely hope that when **** goes wrong while you're riding, you don't bust your helmetless head too hard (maybe just hard enough to get you to wear one thereafter).

Crappy webcam photos but you may be able to get the idea...

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Actually, rush hour is the easiest time to ride when all the cars are stuck in a traffic jam

That's when I get most cautious around here. The cyclist can make decent time, but everyone else is stopping and starting, getting frustrated and impatient. Dropping people off and picking them up. Too much going on and when they are ready to go, you came up on them too fast for them to have seen you. Then there's the pedestrian traffic that has increased too, same head up their @zz and that everyone is looking out for them and they have the right of way. I ride to avoid collisions regardless of right of way, a car has right of way, simply because it's faster and bigger. Even at 5 mph 3,000 lbs will crush me. I think as children, parents need to take us out into the driveway and make us walk into the bumper of a parked car to get that message permanently saved on our hdd of a brain, that a car has no flesh & nerve endings, it's steel and plastic that is lethal and doesn't feel pain. Pedestrians need to realize it too, The old addage still holds, "you can be right, and you can also be crippled or dead right !"

Crappy webcam photos but you may be able to get the idea...

170497170498

That broken plastic piece, did that penetrate your scalp or head/face ? Something that sharp gets down to you skull bone instantaneously.

It poked me slightly on the back of the head, but caused me no harm. Initial impact was about where that piece is broken.

That's good news. Paramedics were probably quite careful to get that shell off your head, you probably had your head secured on one of those flat boards with some type of neck brace already on ?

Ha! I took it off to inspect it while I was sitting on the ground next to the cab. When the ambulance came, they asked me to get in, so I did. Sat there until we got to the hospital, then walked inside. Not exactly the same kind of super-careful-about-the-spine treatment you'd get in the US and eslewhere.

Well, they probably found you already up and about smoking a stogie ? ;)

wow. Glad u are okay. Looking at a broken helmet always paints a mental picture for me of "this is how ur head would've looked had u not wore ur helmet." Hope u a fast recovery.

damn glad to hear you're ok.

Knowing koreans, the cabbie probably had a couple shots of soju beforehand

Looking at a broken helmet always paints a mental picture for me of "this is how ur head would've looked had u not wore ur helmet." [sic]
If you really think that then I'd suggest a thought experiment. Picture a helmet in front of you with the thin plastic shell over some styrofoam. How hard would it be to do as much damage to that helmet as shown in the pictures just using your hands? Now picture a human skull instead - how much damage could you do to it just using your hands? Bike helmets are really rather fragile items - it's not surprising they frequently suffer substantial damage.

Hope the OP has a full recovery and is back riding again soon.

The human skull is indeed quite resilient. However, the grey jelly like thing it encases is not that tough and really enjoys it when there is a few inches of foam around it to absorb some impact before it SLAMS into the inside of said skull.

I've hit my head at well over 60kph and I walked away with a broken collarbone. If I was not wearing a helmet I would not be able to type or worse, breathe. That being said, I do not always wear a helmet. It's usually temperature or if I'm riding with my wife.

Banzai, if your avatar is a true likeness, it would appear that thru evolution, that your head has evolved into an aero bike helmet ?

No, sadly that is what you look like after years of not wearing a helmet on a BMX. Your whole head becomes scar tissue.

Currently at the coffee shop, rode here, first time I haven't worn my helmet in months, now I am afraid to ride home. :(

Bike helmets are really rather fragile items - it's not surprising they frequently suffer substantial damage..


Helmets are actually quite tough, IMO. My last one that I had sustain some minor damage (I get a new one after ever "incident") was put to the test... I drove (crawled) my '87 Honda Civic over it (twice) before it failed. That being said, I've also put a pretty good dent in a lid after a small crash...

So after I got in a wreck earlier this summer I decided to get a new helmet. The one I was wearing wasn't in bad shape but it's impossible to know for sure if it has been compromised after a crash. I didn't want anyone to think that it was still ok and dumpster it so I decided to destroy it. It took my roommate and I five minutes with a battle axe and hammer to completely destroy it. Point is, a decent helmet, basic cheap bell, is pretty god damn strong.

So after I got in a wreck earlier this summer I decided to get a new helmet. The one I was wearing wasn't in bad shape but it's impossible to know for sure if it has been compromised after a crash. I didn't want anyone to think that it was still ok and dumpster it so I decided to destroy it. It took my roommate and I five minutes with a battle axe and hammer to completely destroy it. Point is, a decent helmet, basic cheap bell, is pretty god damn strong.
I didn't have a battle axe handy, but it wasn't any problem at all to break off pieces of the styrofoam with my hands to be able to get at the straps and clips of a discarded helmet (wanted to reuse them as extra straps on a pack).

Ouch...glad you're okay
But in response to your thread title, um, NO!
+1

Enjoy your head injury.

Regarding the strength of helmets, consider that the taxi hit me going about 30 mph. The helmet broke but stayed together. Doing that kind of damage to a helmet requires a lot of force. A lot more force, I think, than you would want directed at your unprotected head.

got clipped by a car today. sugino 75 right crankarm is bent, zipp is a bit out of true, my bars look off. thats why im at home instead of at school ):

I'm not so certain what the long term effects are even when wearing the helmet. A taxi at 30 mph, how much concussion was sustained ? I see where the helmet definitely saves on injuries immediately, but like collisions in the NFL, NHL and so on, what are the long term and less noticeable damages that accumulate over time ?

I'm not so certain what the long term effects are even when wearing the helmet.
Probably negligible.

Boxers all suffer long term brain damage because they are punched in the head dozens of times per fight.

The same for football players: significant impacts dozens of times per game and during practice.



A cyclist would be unlucky to suffer more than half a dozen severe crashes in his or her lifetime, and even fewer that actually impact the head. As an example, I've never hit my head on anything as a result of a bike crash, and I've been in a few.
You're probably doing your brain more damage every time you bump your head on a low door frame.



Obviously this is referring to cumulative effects. If a car runs over your head, it's not gonna matter if you're wearing a helmet. There will probably be damage.

I'm not so certain what the long term effects are even when wearing the helmet. A taxi at 30 mph, how much concussion was sustained ? I see where the helmet definitely saves on injuries immediately, but like collisions in the NFL, NHL and so on, what are the long term and less noticeable damages that accumulate over time ?


American male average lifespan: ~75 years

American male professional football player (all positions) average lifespan: ~55 years


You cannot really compare cycling head trauma (maybe a couple dinger'z per lifetime for above average cyclist) to those of an athlete who takes dozens of hits almost daily in both practice and in games.... Figure they start in what 6th or 7th grade and play through college, then pro.... We are talking years of repeated abuse, not only to the brain, but to the rest of the body.

Enjoy your head injury.

Regarding the strength of helmets, consider that the taxi hit me going about 30 mph. The helmet broke but stayed together. Doing that kind of damage to a helmet requires a lot of force. A lot more force, I think, than you would want directed at your unprotected head.
Agreed. Which is why I do wear a helmet.
But I made the choice - and I may un-make it tomorrow. What I just dont relish are folks like you telling me to get the f***ing helmet on, already... because you think I should. There are enough behavior police out there, I don't need you, too.