A properly fitting helmet is your best choice to protect from serious or even fatal head injury. In fact a head injury is the most common cause of death for motorcyclists.
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More information available from http://mccofnsw.org.au/a/402.html
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Helmets are most effective at neutralising glancing blows, rather than dead stop impacts.
Thankfully glancing blows are the norm in crashes. In fact, you can exceed the engineering limits of the very best helmet at the speed a man can run.
What we DO KNOW from the best studies, is that wearing a helmet will reduce a rider’s crash risk of death by 42% and risk of head injury by 69%. (Liu, Ivers, et al)
Here’s a breakdown of the areas on a helmet most often damaged in a crash.
Studies have shown more than ¾ of impact damage happens on the front of helmets. The
front, visor and chin bar areas get the most damage. Which means over a third of all head injuries, primarily to the face, would not be covered by an open face or ¾ helmet. This rises to almost 40% for a half shell.
So standards and impact testing of all helmet types is incredibly important. We visited Crashlab in Sydney to better understand the tests they do.
The outer shell is the first line of protection. It works with the strap to keep the helmet on your head. It will flex in a crash and may crack.
The inner impact absorption layer is the critical stage of defense. It’s made up of EPS better known as expanded polystyrene and is remarkable stuff. The density and thickness of the EPS makes a huge difference to how well it cushions your brain. It is a key part of the standards testing. Newer helmets have low-density EPS against your head and harder EPS against the shell, so a relatively minor impact doesn’t give you a concussion.
The strap is critical for keeping a helmet on your head in a crash. Helmets come off in around 11% of all crashes, which is frightening. This can also happen if the helmet is too big, even when the strap is done up. Proper fit is essential for effective protection.
Head injuries are horrible things. From mild concussions to death.
All public health studies tell us that wearing a helmet improves YOUR survival odds, significantly.
While even the best studies can’t tell you which helmet is the best, we do know that wearing one that fits you properly and that is Standards compliant will give you the best chance.
So do yourself a favour and wear one! You know it makes sense.
