Half helmet

[Fire-medic]

As the Hurt Report points out, it's not the initial fall which causes your most-serious head trauma, it's what you hit as you are sliding down the road which halts your progress that is "The Big One."

Having been on the receiving end of head blows on the job (one I particularly recall was a full sheet of 3/4" plywood which disloged from a restaurant portico while overhaul was being performed, and I was directly underneath it, it fell straight down and almost flattened me, from a ht of ~17 ft.), on my bicycle (both racing & joy riding), and on a mcy., two street accidents, (ironically either going to or coming home from work, female making a left turn coming from the opposite direction, and sideswipe from a lane changer w/o looking,) either they would be speaking of me in a past tense, or I would have grievous head trauma.

You can go-without, I won't.


Here's something you can do in the event of an emergency:
ICE (In Case of Emergency)

Programming emergency contact information into your cell phone under the listing "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) and carrying BSO's ICE identification card in a wallet or purse can assist first responders in contacting family and friends in the event you're involved in an emergency.
Approximately 1,400 people treated by BSO paramedics annually were unable to communicate with rescuers due to illness or trauma. Emergency contact information is frequently vital to facilitate treatment during life-threatening situations.
To program ICE into your cell phone:

• Access the address book feature of your cell phone.
• Enter the name ICE.
• Enter the phone number of your husband, wife, parent or whomever needs to know about you in case of an emergency.

You may also register your ICE information with your driver's license. Visit the Florida Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles.
In addition, download and print BSO's ICE card and carry it in your wallet or purse.
The I.C.E. program was originally developed in 2004 in the United Kingdom by first responder Bob Brotchie and quickly spread into other countries.

http://www.sheriff.org/safety/ice.cfm Broward County Sheriff's Office-Fire-Rescue

 

[4gasem]

Here are some sobering statistics from the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's office, someplace I have been during my career in EMS education. Sobering statistics!

http://www.dadehealth.org/downloads/FS_Motorcycle%20deaths%201997-2004.pdf

All great info, but the best one was the last... "Ride your own ride" Meaning; ride to YOUR limits, not to the limits of those you're with.

Helmets and gear for the win. People don't think about what it feels like to hit your head on concrete. I have a self preservation meter that hits the redline when on the bike.

Chris

 

[jester 42]

Short story..............

I was flying in a helicopter in Viet Nam as a door gunner in 1970.
We landed & dropped troops in a hot LZ. Several enemy machine guns in the treeline opened up on us as we pulled out of the LZ. The left side of the helicopter I was in got laced with machine gun rounds. One round went all the way through a piece of plexiglass in the left door, through the helicopter, and then through the helmet I was wearing. The bullet hit me in the head hard enough to slam me forward into the gun mount in front of me. I caught the gun mount on the chin & was then "out like a light" for the better part of an hour. I obviously survived, and I think "in part" due to the helmet slowing down that round.

What does that have to do with riding a VMax & wearing, or not wearing a helmet?
Maybe nothing...........

You don't want to wear a helmet?
No problem for me; ain't gonna bother me a bit.
I always wear a full face helmet when I ride.

Jester 42

 

[Fire-medic]

It seems as though once you have yourself saved from serious injury or death by a helmet in whatever usage/method of deployment, you become very "pro-helmet." Sure, there is always that one person who says, 'still ain't gonna wear one,' but most people have more self-preservation instincts, especially after cheating the Grim Reaper.

Here is something I saw on another forum I read which probably won't change anyone's mind, but just another example of giving yourself every advantage possible:

"Hey guys. this moring at 9:24 am my brother was killed in a motorcycle accident due to not wearing a helmet. his arteye (sic:'artery')in his neck snaped and was dead in less than 20min. he was put on life support and was barly making it. he suffered major brain swelling and major bleeding. After watching my brother die right infront of me and seeing our familys sarrow i have decied to sell my truck to fund a "ride for brad" ride im selling the truck for the ride and also fund helmets to riders. Im asking all of you to always wear a helmet cause things can always go wrong.
'
truck is an 05 z71 2wd 95xxx miles, flowermasters, 4" lift, procomp wheels, bfg at 33's. 8k hids. 35% window tint. asking 6,000 thank you. pm if interest about the ride or the truck"
http://www.355nation.net/forum/classifieds/44272-selling-my-colorado-good-reason-6-000-a.html

'jester 42's story is a good one & I see why he is a lifelong convert. In the mid 1960's, one of my friend's older brothers came back from Vietnam. He had been a door gunner in a Huey, and he said because of the .50 cal. door gun mount, they had to sling it upside-down, because unless you did that, spent brass would eject forward into the pilot area, and the last thing you wanted to do was hand a couple of hot shells into your pilot's chest or back. if that happened the pilot demanded a case of beer once you got to base. He told that story at a school-wide assembly to listen to him describe his time 'in-country.'