Originally Posted by
littlewaywelt
+1
I wear it to protect against penetrating injuries and soft tissue injuries which could be bad (as one poster said when going through a windshield), but I have little faith that it will protect in a major impact. The skull and fluid around your brain do a phenomenal job protecting from concussions. The types of wrecks and forces involved that cause brain injury are generally beyond what a helmet can absorb, the exception being where you have a large amount of force applied to a small area that might cause skull fractures like if you hit the edge of a curb. In those instances a helmet can help redistribute and absorb the impact. Bike helmets are not motorcycle helmets.
Bike helmet science is largely anecdotal. Mostly what we hear is "my helmet saved my life" because a user sees a crushed or fractured helmet and assumes the worst of what would happen to his head without one.
The ski industry is the only one I know of that takes uniform records of head injuries and has studied that data. Every injury that involves ski patrol at a US ski mountain is documented in the same standardized way. Two whitepapers came out in the last three or four years that brought the efficacy (or lack thereof) of helmets into focus. I don't recall the exact names, but one was out of Sweden and one out of Sugarbush VT.
All that said, I wear one every ride because I'll take any help, even if marginal, that I can get.
I think everyone agrees that hitting the ground hard enough with or without helmets will seriously injure or kill you. But I think the key to remember is NOTHING will keep you 100% safe. Seatbelts don't prevent all fatalities, nor do airbags. But they all help. I'd rather the helmet take the abuse of cuts, scrapes, and dents than my head. And in the major accidents, I'd rather take the chance WITH the helmet then without. With a helmet, there is a larger chance of less damage then without, where you have almost a certainty of injury.