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I can't think of an example but there might be situations where a motorcycle helmet would increase your injury because it is harder to remove. Reminds me of th

I can't think of an example but there might be situations where a motorcycle helmet would increase your injury because it is harder to remove. Reminds me of the footwear worn at a glass factory I once visited. The glassblowers there wore open shoes without ties, eg: slippers and not normal shoes. The reason was that if you got a drop of molten glas in your shoe you could easily pull your foot out and prevent the worst part of the burn. With closed shoes before you got them off you would have severe burns.

stronglikedan 7y ago
> there might be situations where a motorcycle helmet would increase your injury because it is harder to remove. Same can be said for seat belts, but it's the wrong metric to measure efficacy. Overall, they prevent injury/loss of life magnitudes more than they contribute to it.
- aequitas 7y ago
  Same can be said for wrapping yourself in bubblewrap every morning. It all depends on the situation and the risk you expect to encounter. To be clear, I'm not in doubt of the safety superiority of motorcycle helmets when riding a bike. But wearing one at a jobsite seems to introduce more risk then it prevents (as @dsfyu404ed mentions).
dharmab 7y ago
A good motorcycle helmet has an emergency release system, but it's still a 3-man job for professional EMTs. It's recommended to always leave the helmet on after a crash and stabilize the injured rider.
- aequitas 7y ago
  I haven't been riding for years now so I missed out on this development, good to know it exists.
Kluny 7y ago
I was told to always take my motorcycle helmet off if I got into a roadside fight, since an attacker can grab the jaw bar and basically have control of your head. I haven't had to test the idea though.
- hnick 7y ago
  I'm not too familiar with fistfights or helmets but I would've thought being able to strike them in the face without much risk to your own face would be an advantage in such a case. It would be like grabbing a collar or someone's ears, which can work, but you've tied up at least one of your hands doing that.
  - dharmab 7y ago
    Once someone can grab your head you're losing the fight. Best option is to hop on your bike and run- you're faster and can take shortcuts that cars can't. If you have no choice, taking your helmet off as using it as a blunt weapon is your best option.
taneq 7y ago
The classic example where I live is where a farmer went over the handlebars of his farm bike, head first into a shallow hole the ground, and his helmet caught in the hole causing it to snap his neck. The argument then was that if he hadn't been wearing a helmet his head wouldn't have been stuck and he'd have survived. Of course, your chances of simply being killed by a blow to the head when crashing a bike are far far higher than your chances of getting your helmet wedged in precisely the wrong sized hole, so helmets are still a huge win. Likewise with seatbelts people always worry about what would happen if they're T-boned off a pier into deep water, or something similarly unlikely, when chances are they're just going to drive into the back of someone and the seat belt would save them. The glass factory example seems odd, though - in that environment wouldn't you be wearing high cut leather workboots, such that any glass falling on them would just flow/bounce off?

stronglikedan 7y ago

> there might be situations where a motorcycle helmet would increase your injury because it is harder to remove. Same can be said for seat belts, but it's the wrong metric to measure efficacy. Overall, they prevent injury/loss of life magnitudes more than they contribute to it.

aequitas 7y ago
Same can be said for wrapping yourself in bubblewrap every morning. It all depends on the situation and the risk you expect to encounter. To be clear, I'm not in doubt of the safety superiority of motorcycle helmets when riding a bike. But wearing one at a jobsite seems to introduce more risk then it prevents (as @dsfyu404ed mentions).

dharmab 7y ago

A good motorcycle helmet has an emergency release system, but it's still a 3-man job for professional EMTs. It's recommended to always leave the helmet on after a crash and stabilize the injured rider.

aequitas 7y ago
I haven't been riding for years now so I missed out on this development, good to know it exists.

Kluny 7y ago

I was told to always take my motorcycle helmet off if I got into a roadside fight, since an attacker can grab the jaw bar and basically have control of your head. I haven't had to test the idea though.

hnick 7y ago
I'm not too familiar with fistfights or helmets but I would've thought being able to strike them in the face without much risk to your own face would be an advantage in such a case. It would be like grabbing a collar or someone's ears, which can work, but you've tied up at least one of your hands doing that.
- dharmab 7y ago
  Once someone can grab your head you're losing the fight. Best option is to hop on your bike and run- you're faster and can take shortcuts that cars can't. If you have no choice, taking your helmet off as using it as a blunt weapon is your best option.

taneq 7y ago

The classic example where I live is where a farmer went over the handlebars of his farm bike, head first into a shallow hole the ground, and his helmet caught in the hole causing it to snap his neck. The argument then was that if he hadn't been wearing a helmet his head wouldn't have been stuck and he'd have survived. Of course, your chances of simply being killed by a blow to the head when crashing a bike are far far higher than your chances of getting your helmet wedged in precisely the wrong sized hole, so helmets are still a huge win. Likewise with seatbelts people always worry about what would happen if they're T-boned off a pier into deep water, or something similarly unlikely, when chances are they're just going to drive into the back of someone and the seat belt would save them. The glass factory example seems odd, though - in that environment wouldn't you be wearing high cut leather workboots, such that any glass falling on them would just flow/bounce off?