On a sportster dedicated board I also frequent this became a really hot topic.

The helmet pro-side claiming that helmets saved lives, period, while the unconvinced claim that helmets can prevent some head injuries, but also contribute to neck injuries and have no overall effect on fatality numbers.

What do you guys think?

Personally, I wear a small DOT half helmet because I am forced to.  

Here in Texas I have the choice of helmet or not. Sometime I will choose not to wear one. Most of the time I wear a half helmet. On a recent 1800 mile trip through the hill country and big bend I wore a full helmet the whole trip. Note: that was my choice. Also one of the riders in the group went down wearing a half helmet. Totaled the bike and  helmet but he got cut above eye, broken wrist and collarbone. Nobody saw what or how this happened but after care flite to San Antonio to make sure everything was ok he got pissed that he didnt get to finish the trip. Its cool to be able to wear a helmet or not but remember ITS MY CHOICE.  

I agree and wish I had a choice. I've had other folks outright tell me helmets could never cause a neck injury. I told them to ask Dale Earnhart. Oh yeah, they can't...his helmet broke his neck and that is why NASCAR now requires helmet restraints.  

Helmets have no overall effect on head injuries?  Hmmmm..  I don't have the literature available to prove it but ..  WHAT!!!???  Here's the deal.  I'm an anesthesiologist.  You know, the guy who keeps you alive while a surgeon is fixing you provided whatever has happened to you hasn't already killed you.  I live in California.  I remember a number of years ago I was still in school and had the chance to talk with a very well known heart transplant surgeon.  I asked how many he did.  He showed me the graph with the numbers per month and per year and so forth.  At one point, I believe it was in the mid to late '80s, the numbers that had been near or over 100 per year went down to 10-20.  I asked, "what happened there?  Did you just make enough money and decide to take time off?"  "No", he says, "right there" and he points to the exact point of the immediate decrease "is where the helmet law went into effect.  Nothing like a traumatic head injury to provide us with young, available organs".  So, if you have a death wish, and just think it is cool enough to take the chance, leave the head can at home and enjoy the wind and the sounds of nature and all the nice sensations of being helmetless.  OR, wear one because you respect your family enough to want to stick around.  Hang in there.  I don't like mine either but I wear it every time I ride.  

OH, and one thing I may have neglected to mention, it is reasonable to expect that with the added weight of a helmet increasing the force placed on the neck during the sudden acceleration or deceleration that occurs in a collision with an object or the ground.  Whiplash style injuries may likely be marginally increased and that increase may be greater with a large full-face helmet than with a little kevlar half-helmet.  Personally, when my head strikes a tree, and pole, a car, the asphalt, a curb, the center divider, and whatever else you can imagine, I'll risk the neck injury to avoid the alternative death or vegetative state that is FAR more likely with no protection.  You know, I absolutely HATE being told that I have to wear a helmet.  I do it anyway because I choose to.  I have no right to tell you to wear a helmet unless I'm paying for your medical care.  This reminds me of the increasingly stupid argument my dad poses regarding seatbelt laws.  He loves to cite stories of people who died because of being trapped secondary to a stuck seatbelt.  He isn't able to comprehend the hundreds of lives that have been saved because those lives were wrapped in a belt or the driver responsible for their lives was able to stay behind the wheel thanks to being held there by a belt.  OK, I'll shut up now.  It's really nice outside.  Would feel awesome to take a quick ride without a helmet.  I'll get over it.  

In central Texas the biggest danger on 2 wheels are deer.The buzzards are so fat they just walk to their next meal and sleep on the ground. Two years ago on a trip to bandera a couple of riders that had left the group to ride some different roads stopped to help a rider who had hit a deer. Good news he had a full helmet on bad news he hit the asphalt face first and ground most of his mouth and lower jaw off. My logic is if something is telling you to wear the helmet or keep the leathers on a while longer do it.If your good with jeans boots and t shirt no problem its your choice.  

Well, not everyone agrees that helmets reduce fatalities. Also, helmets increase the chances of spinal trauma at speeds over 13mph. Here's the introduction to the study by Bikers Rights, and the link.

The Effect of Motorcycle Helmet Use on the Probability of Fatality and the Severity of Head And Neck Injuries
Highlights of Helmet Effectiveness Study

Jonathan P. Goldstein, Ph.D.
Department of Economics
Bowdoin College
Brunswick, Maine 04011


This article evaluates the effectiveness of motorcycle helmets in accident situations. A latent variable model is developed and estimated. It is concluded that (1) motorcycle helmets have no statistically significant effect on the probability of fatality; (2) helmets reduce the severity of head injuries; and (3) past a critical impact speed [13 MPH], helmets increase the severity of neck injuries. Further analysis establishes the qualitative and quantitative nature of the head-neck injury trade-off.

Here's the full link:

http://www(dot)bikersrights(dot)com/statisti...goldstein.html

My question is then: why does government make the choice for me? By wearing their mandated helmet I am more likely to be left a quad with no statistically greater probability of reduced fatality.

This is the aurgument that has had most helmet laws repealed.  

Interesting stuff!  I thought that if I shared my experience that I might at least contribute to saving a life or two or might keep someone's mom from being referred to as a widow.  We, as a group, include as part of our culture the propensity to avoid taking outside commands.  When one is received, it is a reflex to consider it inferior and to therefore to consider the opposite as the only viable alternative.  I guess I should just ask anyone who has not formed an iron-clad opinion on the subject to do the research.  There's information on both sides.  A lot of it is presented with great emotional appeal yet a little critical thinking reveals that it is research in name only and is meaningless from a statistical perspective.  Consider NHSTA stats and apply them however you want--Helmets are estimated to be 37 percent effective in preventing fatal injuries to motorcyclists. This means for every 100 motorcyclists killed in crashes while not wearing a helmet, 37 of them could have been saved if they had a helmet on. Some of those guys/girls were loners who live for the moment, love for the thrill, and know that if they die, life has been a success.  However, there are the others--probably the majority who have moms and dads, little kids, wives or husbands, and others who will suffer to great extent when their special someone gets killed.  When they realize the death might have been avoided, it will probably hurt a little worse.  Neck injury?  yes, I noted earlier that with any additional weight behond the hinge (the neck) will provide extra force on the hinge (the neck) when accelerated or decellerated.  Interestingly, it is proven that it takes a somewhat greater blow to cause death in a helmet-wearing individual.  That greater blow is even more likely to be associated with neck injury.  The clincher is that in the biggest and possibly only "study" that evaluated these factors, the evaluations were made post-mortem.  For those of you who never watched Quincy, that means the guy is dead.  So, more neck injuries in the helmet wearers and statistically greater injury in the helmet wearers required to cause death.  That makes the study statistically insignificant (p<0.05).  OK, this is all kinda stupid anyway.  If I may quote the great jimmy55don, "If your good with jeans boots and t-shirt no problem its your choice." I agree! It should be my choice.  This is really a no-brainer which is good because a good blow to the head if not wearing a helmet will not help anyone's cognitive function.  You don't wear a  helmet and you smash your head against something and you will probably die.  You do wear a helmet and the same thing occurs, 1/3 of the time you will live.  However, as the emminent Mr. Lacey has pointed out, you will probably have something close to the mother of all neck injuries.  I won't comment on this stuff further because you are all probably yawning by now.  I wish you a long life, bug-free glasses and nostrils, a soft spot in your saddle, a smile on your face and the warm wind in your hair or helmet.  Ted  

in the 70's my old man used to ride down from Detroit to the Ohio state line just to cruise around sans helmet.  Now at 57, he's considering buying a 3/4  bucket.  

I'm not big into havin' the government make me do anything I don't want to, but wearin' a helmet just seems like a no-brainer, government mandated or not.  

The CHOICE should belong to the individual, not the state or federal government. I think I will leave it at that. Too many people on soapboxes in this country as it is. Sean  

I'll take any advantage I can get. I wear a Full-Face helmet and I'm very comfortable with it. I like the fact that bugs and rocks bounce off the face shield and chin guard rather then my face. I’ve seen what a face plant on the road does to bare skin from my friend’s accident while wearing a skull cap. I’m a firm believer in ATGATT (all the gear all the time). My own experience with meeting the pavement occurred at only 30 mph actual contact speed (though I was previously going much faster) resulting in my leather jacket being ground down to the inner lining at my wrists. Good thing it did its job. Laws or no laws, I don’t need them to tell me what to do to protect myself, its common sense as far as I’m concerned. No different than telling my young girls to ware protective gear when they ride their bicycles or skates. Unfortunately we riders are more likely to be concerned with what’s cool looking for which occasion. Good example is the image of a Cruiser rider with a beanie cap verses a sport bike rider with a full-face. No sport bike rider would mount a sport bike with anything but a full-face; it simply wouldn’t look right. I have to admit however, I see more and more people wearing full-face helmets on cruisers these days most likely because a lot of them are generation Y crossovers. On the other hand if someone makes the decision to wear anything less than a full face it’s their prerogative.  

I wear a full face helmet even though I live in a helmet choice state. As an EMT/Firefighter I have treated quite a few injured bikers at accident scenes. I've read some of the studies people like to quote about greater threat of neck injuries and I agree with prior posts stating that if you survive, you might have a neck injury. It's just common sense, you are beat up but alive, rather than beat up and dead. I'm no doctor, my experience is anecdotal. If you go down and don't hit an immovable object, even at high speed, you will most likely survive. What you look like after the wreak depends on your level of personal protective equipment.

It is kind of interesting, at a local bike night (200 bikes or so), I'm the only cruiser rider that wears a full face. I have had some riders (mostly younger) come up and ask me how I like my modular helmet. I get the feeling they would feel better in a helmet, but yield to  peer pressure to wear a skid lid at most. I hope the younger generation of riders will make their decisions on helmets based on personal preferences, not on trying to fit into a imagined lifestyle.

Ride safely.