Has a helmet ever saved your life?

[black hills]

I honestly believe a helmet has saved my life 3 times:
- Crashed my dirtbike on a rocky downhill, my helemt was craked in a star pattern with the center of the "star" approximately where my temple is located.

- Highsided my CR 500 on a fire trail, pretty much topped out in 5th, Broken helmet, broken chest protector and 14 rib fractures. Pretty sure my scull would have been as broken as the ribs without the helmet.

-T-boned a car with my Nighthawk S. About 55mph when I hit her front wheel. I flew approximately 75' landing on the pavement face first. broke the visor and chin bar on the helmet. Pretty sure I would have recieved major head injuries if not for the helmet.

[Sport-Touring]

[Redbeard]

Yep...

On a ride to Nova Scotia, my Nolan N-100 helmet gave it's all to save my life...



I still keep it on a shelf in a place of honor!  

Take care,
Bob S.

[Busy Little Whiner]

Certainly it saves... every ride my full face helmet saves my life... my head is cocooned from  the
elements so I stay more alert... bare headed riding is fatiguing and when you're  fatigued you make more
mistakes...

[DaveG]

Mine stopped a bullet
Heard a smack on my helmet and saw a kid in a tree across an open field about 1/3 mile away  ( a good or lucky shot I guess.)

Took of towards him (dumb) and he ran away across a river.

Later I saw a deep gouge on the top front of my helmet ( a .22 I guess)


Suited up in the house and slipped on some ice on the front step once.   Hit my helmeted head real good when I fell.

[bizarro]

I believe my old Quatum saved my life when I high sided.

[DredheadV2.0]

Interesting that people voted No or maybe

Why?  The worst accident that I've ever had resulted in damage much further south than the skull.  Another crash saw me bouncing my skull off the pavement with no lid, but I skated with a bloody gash on my browline (and somehow no concussion).  The one crash where helmeted head met pavement undoubtedly saved me from having my jaw reconstructed but highly doubtful it saved my life.

On the other hand, I might have a huge melanoma on my scalp by now and be dying of pancreatic cancer were it not for wearing a helmet these past eight years.  Or any of a number of small rocks which harmlessly deflected off my shield could have instead stuck me in the face and gotten under my glasses, distracting me from noticing that traffic had slowed ahead.

Who knows?

So.  "Maybe."

[Malks]

I voted "Maybe" because I cannot be sure if my collision was severe enough that my injuries would have been life threatening.  While I cleared the car and slid along the roadway grinding off the outer shell of the helmet, I might have survived with only a severe road rash on my scalp.  I immediately bought a better helmet and would never even consider riding a bike without one.

Malks

[bizarro]

Mine stopped a bullet
Heard a smack on my helmet and saw a kid in a tree across an open field about 1/3 mile away  ( a good or lucky shot I guess.)

Took of towards him (dumb) and he ran away across a river.

Later I saw a deep gouge on the top front of my helmet ( a .22 I guess)


Suited up in the house and slipped on some ice on the front step once.   Hit my helmeted head real good when I fell.

That's so fucked up. Did you ever catch the little attempted-murderer?  

[birdrunner]

Somewhere in the south of Colorado is a boulder in a ditch that did it's best to knock my brains out!

[R Doug]

OK, I answered yes. Granted, there's no 100% way of being sure, but the crash was too violent to believe other wise.  Even if it didn't save my life in regards to being alive or dead, I'm sure it save my life in regards to my quality of life in being able to think, walk, talk, etc...

My crash was a high-side at Virginia International Raceway last year (I'm sure several of you remember the story from ST.N V1.0).

This happened under the bridge on the backstretch and I'm sure I exited the bike somewhere between 60 and 80 MPH.  I know I routinely got over 100 by the bridge before braking for turn 8.

The guy behind me told me I went over the bars and landed on the back of my head and left shoulder, my feet were straight up in the air at the time of impact (I was out cold).  My own bike hit me as I was on my head, then I slid for a little before taking a nice long tumble where I finally regained consciousness.  

I had a slight fracture on the inside of my left elbow, but I walked away from the crash.

Rubber from bike's front tire



Back of helmet, impact area at upper left



Dent in the foam at impact point from the foam located inside the helmet

[JimWilliamson]

Maybe.

Highside off into the brush. Fall (from 5+ feet???) flat onto my front side. It certainly saved me from having dental work done.

[rancity]

I only say no because the one accident I was in did not involve a head strike.

[arktazz]

I voted YES. I had to lay my old bike down during the H-D 100th in Milwaukee when a cager that spoke little english made a left in front me  . Ended up with $2500(USD) damage to the bike, $3000(USD) in hospital bills(bruises and scrapes only),cracked helmet and 25 new friends(H-D riders).
I gave the helmet to a local cager training school to use as an example. Sorry no pics of the helmet.

[badger]

Yes.  But not my motorcycle helmet. Ice climbing, I took a 5-8 lb'er to the back of the helmet.  My bell was rung for several hours, but if it had knocked me out or off the ice, it woulda been a whole lot worse.  Only a couple motorcycle get offs, all relatively low speed with minimal or no head impact.

[baldheadeddork]

Maybe. I had a case of the stupids and tried to flat track my EX500 through some water on a street corner and low-sided. My head came down on the edge of a curb hard enough to make a solid thunk sound. May not have killed me but probably saved me from turning into Gary Busey.




...or a Republican.

Okay, I'll going back to PO now.  

[ctfz1]

No. Kept a lot of crap and things off face. Never had serious down, approaching 500,000 miles on, never helmet to ground, ha.

[Silver Penguin]

I voted yes, although it wasn't my head in the helmet.  Just over a year ago, my husband fell victim to a careless driver, in a most spectacular manner (long story).  He was wearing a Bell Sprint full face helmet and leather gear from top to toe.

The remains of the helmet hang in our garage as a reminder.

Had he not been wearing the helmet, he would have either died or turned into a vegetable.  In either of those cases, my life would have never been the same again.

[EnthusiastII]

I voted maybe. I slid on my butt across the road. My helmet made hard contact with a guard rail. My helmet bounced off the guard rail really hard, lifting me clear off the road. I would say my helmet bounced five feet after the impact. That was in 1979. Now my neck vertebrae have a stenosis caused by bone spurs. I have all kinds of weird pain and numbness, but, I'm still here. Good chance I would have been killed without that helmet.

[burnergold2B]

Every day since July of 1976 at 18 years old I owe to a Bell helmet. It was polyurethane and bounced like a superball.

   I was 9 years old in '79 when my best friend's Dad asked me " What do you think your head is worth? It's worth a Bell helmet, that's what." He then sat me his sons DT 80, in KR yellow and black, and showed me how to shift the bike, and off I went into a vacant lot to learn how to ride wearing a Bell helmet.

  Last spring an AGV helmet saved my life when I low-sided my RC51 coming out of The Bend at Road America during the SuperTwins race with CCS. Banged my gourd good on the initial impact and then slid into the outside gravel with the speed of Ricky Henderson. Italian made with different specs.

  A buddy I was to ride with on Saturday morn. was on his way to our home, on the backroads between Spring Green and Janesville, when a monstrous buck crossed his airspace between 2 cornfields. Derek slid 80' before stopping at the roadside with 4 broken ribs and a snapped collarbone. His Falco went down the road another 40'. The left side of his helmet was ground through the plastic and into the insulating foam, just a little too close to his skull, but far enough away from doing final impact damage that was life threatening. His leather pants were literally spotless and Aerostich coat had heavy abrasions. He's alive at home enjoying Oxycontin, kind of.

  Wear the gear. If you cannot afford gear put up a wanted advertisement that you are asking for some volunteers to donate with a name and address to be sent to. Most guys I know have more than a few extra helmets, and at least one lid they wouldn't  mind giving away if somebody was gonna wear it.  Just a thought....    

[airborneXX]

YES!!!!

6-5-95 Did a face plant when I lowsided after a car load of Mexicans made a left turn in front of me.


10-14-06 Impact to the right temple/forehead area during the famed XX West Virginia slide through debacle.

Both helmets and riding gear hang over the XX in my garage as a reminder for ATTGATT.