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Wasn't there an increase in serious head/neck injuries when Australia made helmets mandatory? I thought the only working protection was the Hövding airbag, whic

by bitL 7y ago

Wasn't there an increase in serious head/neck injuries when Australia made helmets mandatory? I thought the only working protection was the Hövding airbag, which is quite expensive for one-time use.

jdnenej 7y ago
Last time this was posted someone pointed out that this could be because when someone dies they don't bother to report "they died but they also got neck injurys which would have caused long term damage" so since less people died, the more minor reports could have been made.
- bitL 7y ago
  Basilar/basal skull fracture is what makes helmets dangerous in general, i.e. landing face-first on motorbikes often led to cracked bones at the bottom of the skull, often fatally. There were reports about increased rates among cyclists when helmets were made mandatory. I consider that pretty serious and not minor. Nothing is without risks it seems.
haser_au 7y ago
There is no consensus amongst researchers on whether mandatory helmet laws reduce injuries. I, for one, will continue wearing one and forcing my kids to wear them. As steelframe [1] posted on here, when someone else hits me, I want to survive. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20825983 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20825983
- bitL 7y ago
  There is a counter point from a brain surgeon: https://www.cnet.com/news/brain-surgeon-theres-no-point-wearing-cycle-helmets/ https://www.cnet.com/news/brain-surgeon-theres-no-point-wear... There were reports of increased rates of basal skull injury, i.e. the same injury many race car drivers suffered (Dale Earnhard) and for which HANS device was invented. So on one hand you would be protected in simple accidents but on the other hand exposed to more serious ones.
  - haser_au 7y ago
    A counter point to your counter point from another brain surgeon. https://road.cc/content/news/121280-cycle-helmets-save-lives-says-neurosurgeon-ongoing-helmet-row https://road.cc/content/news/121280-cycle-helmets-save-lives... Which actually makes the point I was trying to make initially; there is no consensus.

by bitL 7y ago

Wasn't there an increase in serious head/neck injuries when Australia made helmets mandatory? I thought the only working protection was the Hövding airbag, which is quite expensive for one-time use.

jdnenej 7y ago

Last time this was posted someone pointed out that this could be because when someone dies they don't bother to report "they died but they also got neck injurys which would have caused long term damage" so since less people died, the more minor reports could have been made.

bitL 7y ago
Basilar/basal skull fracture is what makes helmets dangerous in general, i.e. landing face-first on motorbikes often led to cracked bones at the bottom of the skull, often fatally. There were reports about increased rates among cyclists when helmets were made mandatory. I consider that pretty serious and not minor. Nothing is without risks it seems.

haser_au 7y ago

There is no consensus amongst researchers on whether mandatory helmet laws reduce injuries. I, for one, will continue wearing one and forcing my kids to wear them. As steelframe [1] posted on here, when someone else hits me, I want to survive. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20825983 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20825983

bitL 7y ago
There is a counter point from a brain surgeon: https://www.cnet.com/news/brain-surgeon-theres-no-point-wearing-cycle-helmets/ https://www.cnet.com/news/brain-surgeon-theres-no-point-wear... There were reports of increased rates of basal skull injury, i.e. the same injury many race car drivers suffered (Dale Earnhard) and for which HANS device was invented. So on one hand you would be protected in simple accidents but on the other hand exposed to more serious ones.
- haser_au 7y ago
  A counter point to your counter point from another brain surgeon. https://road.cc/content/news/121280-cycle-helmets-save-lives-says-neurosurgeon-ongoing-helmet-row https://road.cc/content/news/121280-cycle-helmets-save-lives... Which actually makes the point I was trying to make initially; there is no consensus.