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a) Cherry picking one state and two years for comparison of data is meaningless when these measurements have a very large SD., so I'm not impressed with your Michigan example. About 20 yrs ago, Florida and another state (?TN)did away with their helmet laws and death rate/ injury rate went down the next year.
2) Thanks for catching my error in calculation: a 30 ft fall would give terminal spreed ~30mph. Who rides a MC at <30mph? And a 6-footer falling down hits his head at 12mph. So you don't need a helmet at speeds <12mph and faster than ~15mph it does no good.
c] force /area? How much does it take to cause concussion or rupture of tissue? Are your figures of practical importance? You're deluded if you think the improved deceleration profile afforded by helmet suspension or padding from zero to a few microseconds has practical import. Put on your helmet and run headlong into a brick wall if you trust it that much. If you're an Olympic sprinter, you'll only be going 20mph.
Anything less than a motorcycle - No. Dont want to look silly. There is not enough speed to get seriously hurt.
That's what my spouse and I thought.
Then I hear my spouse crashing behind me on a leisurely bicycle ride. Maybe 12 mph.
Spouse on the ground, blood from nose and ears, uncontrolled spasms, seizure, regains consciousness after some time, gets rushed to the ER, falls into a two week coma followed by months of recovery from a brain injury.
Lasting side effect is anosmia due to a severed olfactory nerve.
We are very fragile. I will never ride a bicycle without a helmet.
Then I hear my spouse crashing behind me on a leisurely bicycle ride. Maybe 12 mph.
Spouse on the ground, blood from nose and ears, uncontrolled spasms, seizure, regains consciousness after some time, gets rushed to the ER, falls into a two week coma followed by months of recovery from a brain injury.
Lasting side effect is anosmia due to a severed olfactory nerve.
We are very fragile. I will never ride a bicycle without a helmet.
Sorry to hear. Believe it or not, I posted my reply before reading yours.......
Maybe 12 mph..........., blood from nose and ears,
.
Sorry to hear about his accident. Statistics are cold hearted and can't account for the personal implications of individual events.
A bike helmet is designed to help only at speeds up to ~12mph. They're tested by dropping them from 2m-- speed at impact 12mph.
Bleeding from the ears is typical of a basilar skull fracture-- the type requiring the most force to achieve-- so he hit really hard.
Here's a non-emotional, practical explanation of bicycle helmets: Bicycle Helmets: What are their limits?
They site a research paper that claims ~2/3rd reduction in head injuries by using bicycle helmets, but unfortunately the source is pay-walled so I can't evaluate the veracity of that statement: it could be that they're counting even very minor headaches or scratches as "head injuries," so the conclusion may be exaggerated.
I did not wear a bicycle helmet when I was growing up. I'm not sure any were available for children until the late 1970s or so. I know serious bike racers wore them, but few other people did until the early 1990s when it became more of a thing, and helmets were made better and dropped a little in price.
These days, I don't ride my bicycle without a helmet.
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