Im still waiting for a "true life adventure" of how wearing a helmet killed someone.

Ah, so that's what you want. Now, how reasonable is it to expect anyone to say "A helmet killed me!"? Or, for that, to expect surgeons, police or helmet propagandists to tell of people being killed because they wore a helmet? You are aware, I hope, that there's a concensus among authorities that helmets are goooood - and given that bias, any case of a helmet being harmfull will hardly be noticed. Too easy to write off.

I told you of my incident. It's pretty obvious to me that NOT wearing a helmet may have saved my life. Most people would instead think that they'd better wear a helmet in the future, as helmets are goooood and will prevent head injury.

Still finding your request reasonable?

hagen

Yes I find my request very reasonable. Your suggestion that dead people report is dumb. But it seems to me that all the anti helmet trolls should have volumes of reports on how wearing a helmet killed someone.

Btw what is the post number where you posted how not wearing a helmet kept you from injury?

Post #1270, with further explanation in post #1310.

sudo

Your accident really is no proof at all that a helmet would have caused more injury. As you described it you basically jammed your neck.

stop the madness

It isn't my story, I just linked to hagen's liked you asked.

On Friday January 3rd a $22.00 Schwinn Helmet saved me from a cracked skull and a scalping. It seems that I hit a dog at about 20mph and flipped both the bike and I. I still had a mild concussion but the helmet took the brunt of the damage. Although my shoulder is separated, my ribs severely bruised, and I have some decent road rash; I am still able to walk and talk thanks to wearing a helmet. I think I'll mount the helmet like a trophy!

If you know from eye witnesses exactly how you fell, you may be able to tell if your claim has any credibility. If not, it's pure speculation.

DaHa

Watch all the anti helmet trolls pile on to your accident and tell you that you are entirely wrong. They just cant stand anyone saying a helmet did it job!!!!!!

You consistently exaggerate the positions of others. It serves no purpose. If anything, your debate manners must be embarrassing for the pro-helmeteers. Please stop.

Indeed. Your incessant "anti-helmet trolls" invective serves only to irritate both sides in this debate.

Says triumph.1 with a Norton avatar?!?

:twitchy: :bang:

Wow, no one's taking you up on this. OK, so:

You don't know and can't claim that your helmet saved you from a cracked skull.
You don't know and can't claim that your helmet saved you from a scalping.
If the accident happened as you say it did, then chances are good when you hit the ground with your helmet, it was beyond tested design parameters of the helmet.
Helmets do not help with concussion.
Your continued ability to walk and talk probably has very little to do with any protection your helmet did offer.

-however-

The helmet haterz can't say it didn't help, maybe even in exactly the way you claim.

+1
This exactly. The crash sounds like it was beyond the design conditions of the helmet, so you can't say for certain if it did you any good at all. Likewise, no one can say it did you no good. However, if you had concussion I'd get it checked out asap.

I would especially note that the helmet didn't stop a concussion.

Why is this noteworthy? They are not expected, tested, or built to stop concussions.

While I don't know about all the fancy design parameters, I do know that the helmet was severely gouged where it slid on the asphalt while still securely attached to my head. Those gouges represent abrasions of such a nature that I am confident that I would have lost hair and scalp without the hard plastic of the helmet. The fact that the outer plastic liner and inner styrofoam is split indicates sufficient force to crack a human skull--imho but no I don't have empirical evidence and I'm glad that I am not part of the experiment without a helmet. BTW, nothing short of a HANS device has a hope of stopping a concussion since a concussion occurs when our brains bounced around inside our skull.

I'll be getting the police report soon and hopefully be able to contact the eyewitness who saw the incident.

I can't wait to ride my bicycles again and you can be sure that I will be wearing a helmet.

I have no issue with the other points you make, but you might want to check this out http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1209.html before you jump to the conclusion that your helmet prevented a cracked skull. I'm not saying it didn't, I'm just offering information. :)

Tell that to the folks rolling around expecting otherwise.

No doubt.

I note that anyone claiming a helmet may have worsened their injuries will be on the receiving end of your insults, but anyone who claims a helmet saved his life is a messiah to you.

That may even be sillier than your insult-filled tirades about cyclists needing to be civil to each other.

You seem to look for a compelling reason not to wear a bike helmet. I'm doing the opposite... i'm waiting for a compelling reason to wear one (and haven't found one yet).

That's probably jumping the gun without data to work from. What standard was his helmet tested to? What was his head's speed, acceleration, and angle when it hit the ground?

One big problem with that page: they offer only one external source for their assertions (before they start making a general--and rather hokey--argument against helmet effectiveness). Better to link to a peer-reviewed scientific study or at least something with concrete data.

I don't know if this counts as compelling, but these conclusions of some formal meta-analyses and general surveys of helmet studies might be interesting:

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roa...ic_Crash_5.pdf:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/rmd/project.as...rojectID=10083:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...01457500000488:

(but see http://www.cycle-helmets.com/elvik.pdf for a different interpretation of the data)

http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/us...d/CD001855.pdf :

http://depts.washington.edu/hiprc/pr...meteffect.html :

http://www.swov.nl/rapport/Factsheet...le_helmets.pdf :