The importance of protecting the rest of you

**Hans** · 7th January 2007, 11:56

Howdy everyone,

Just came across some really important info on one of the sites linked in the survival forum, so i thought I'd quote some of it:

"In the case of fatal accidents, there was one more important discovery in the Hurt Report: There were essentially no deaths to helmeted riders from head injuries alone.

Some people in the study, those involved in truly awful, bone-crushing, aorta-popping crashes, did sustain potentially fatal head injuries even though they were wearing helmets. The problem was that they also had, on average, three other injuries that would have killed them if the head injury hadn't.

In other words, a crash violent enough to overwhelm any decent helmet will usually destroy the rest of the body as well. Newman put this into perspective. "In most cases, bottoming [compressing a helmet's EPS completely] is not going to occur except in really violent accidents. And in these kind of cases, one might legitimately wonder whether there is anything you could do."

In my book this means that the rest of your riding gear is just as important as your helmet. If not more. And I know that I didn't always realize that, especially when I was a bit younger. Anyway, that's my 2cents' worth.

**Ixion** · 7th January 2007, 12:01

So what gear will prevent aorta rupture?

**Hans** · 7th January 2007, 12:03

A foam boiler suit.

**scumdog** · 7th January 2007, 12:13

Not actually moving??

**Hans** · 7th January 2007, 12:16

Which should put you on kiwisofarider.co.nz. And by the way, the holy rollers would argue with you, that life IS a rehearsal.

**scumdog** · 7th January 2007, 12:23

Originally Posted by Hans

Which should put you on kiwisofarider.co.nz. And by the way, the holy rollers would argue with you, that life IS a rehearsal.

To hijack the thread a little: I've never had anybody yet come up to me and say "Shee-it man, I made sooo many screw-ups last life but now I've got it sorted after the last rehearsal" so I guess the holy rollers are just guessing?

But back on topic: How much armour/padding etc do you need to wear before you can be confident of binning and ending up unscathed??

I guess generally it's all up to personal preferance balanced with practicality eh?

**Hans** · 7th January 2007, 12:26

I can't disagree with what you say...

**James Deuce** · 7th January 2007, 12:27

You can't protect yourself from the internal organ damage generated by rapid negative acceleration. You can only protect the body's biggest organ, your skin, and possibly your bones.

**Ixion** · 7th January 2007, 12:33

One point worth bearing in mind (and a reason why helmets are compulsary and other stuff not), is that even a relatively mild head injury that does not kill you (or anywhere near it), can still leave you totally buggered for the rest of your life.

Other non-fatal injuries, you usually get more or less recovered. And even if they leave you crippled, in a wheelchair, say, you can still go on to have a reasonably decent life . Whereas head trauma can leave you totally f**ked, not even really functioning on a human being level.

(I am aware that many injuries never completely heal, and that many can have life long associated health problems. I'm not minimising that, just pointing out that usually it's not as bad as being a vegetable)

**Hans** · 7th January 2007, 12:37

Once again, I agree, the point being that I'd much rather end up with internal organ damage, which although it sounds nasty, can be recovered from to a reasonable extent /unless it's a ripped off aorta or the likes/ than a neurological injury such as a severed spinal canal or other vegetable-producing injuries. In that case I'm not so sure i'd want to survive anyway. Hence all the back protectors etc...

**Hans** · 7th January 2007, 12:41

Amen to that, Ixion. And btw, here is an interesting article as well:

http://www.fmq.qc.ca/pdf/amorce-freinage_eng.pdf

**Motu** · 7th January 2007, 12:44

But I think how you look is most important,no one is going to wear silly looking protective gear.Now,if it makes them look something they are not,something that other people admire - then yes they will wear it,and more importantly....to pay a fortune for it.