Originally Posted by
Calsun
A visit to the ER is going to cost me $3500 before I see a doctor or have an x-ray performed. A $100 bike helmet represents a smart investment in avoiding going to the hospital or becoming brain damaged.
When California enacted a mandatory helmet law there was one group that suffered, the recipients of donor organs. When young men were killed in a motorcycle accident there was usually massive head trauma but their internal organs were intact and good for donating to others.
My concerns over the years was keeping my head cool, and the first Bell helmets were very hot and not healthy to wear, and the forward visibility. Many helmets I have had to trim the forward brim to allow me to see the road ahead while bent over the handlebars. Thankfully the newer helmets are much better designed and do not block my view of the road.
A white helmet (based on motorcycle accident data) is significantly safer than a black one in terms of motorists driving over a bicyclist, but this is seldom mentioned.
There is more to it then just that simple… for starters, the type of high speed accidents on motorcycles that cause massive trauma leading to instant or delayed death, are not helped by the presence or absence of helmet. Human body is quite frail and at high speed accidents, helmet only serves as a brain bucket… saving some effort for the cleaning crew. The accidents where life-saving differences are made by the use of helmet are relatively low speed accidents, which are far more numerous in number. And this why effect of helmets on donor organ count. High speed accidents can often do, damage internal organs to the degree that they are not useable.