Once again guys I must start this by saying I’m NOT in any way anti full face, I’ve been wearing one for 34 years after all!
But, the helmet debate is deeper than this. If anyone is really serious about their motorcycle PPE the chances are there are many other areas of your kit that are at least as important as helmet choice that are currently wrong / poor / inadequate.
And perhaps I’m just a cynical git. But...
Whilst 253 would certainly be considered ‘statistically sigificant’ it’s still a relatively low number, and is easily susceptible to ‘sampling error’ meaning, for example, if all samples are from one place, perhaps there is a unique issue there that is not relevant esleswhere. I would therefore suggest it would have been much better to have had a bigger study.
Also, am I reading correctly that it was only out patience that we’re studied? If so, why? I assume I’m wrong about this actually, but if it was only out patience, they are not going to get many severe neck injuries in the out patient ward and this would be a huge ‘sampling error’ mistake.
The 5225 study in Thailand is, of course, a much bigger and more meaningful study. But even this is at fault of ‘sampling error’ FOR OUR PURPOSES. Meaning: the vast majority of motorcycles in Thailand are small, low powered machines. The vast number of incidents would therefore have been very different to the incidents more appropriate to us, i.e. heavy, fast motorcycles crashed at high speed. The type of accidents, and the trauma to the body through whiplash etc would therefore have been very different.
As an aside, part of my own ‘bias’ here comes from a ‘lesson’ I had in motorcycle protection from the guy who used to be “Crowtree Leathers” in England. He explained that leathers, or armour, that was stiff would simply move the energy of a crash to the extremities of the body, this means limbs flailing around and causing injuries to ankles and wrist, but worse, it also means the neck. He also went on to say that wearing heavy boots, gloves and helmets accentuates this greatly. Therefore, we can EASILY do the wrong thing when buying our motorcycle PPE by buying big, stiff, heavy, durable gear because it SEEMS obviously better. The suits racers use today are super flexible and lightweight, boots have carbon fibre inserts, helmets are carbon fibre, protection is super high tech including airbag technology, etc. All VERY different to what most of us use on the road. Nevertheless, even a stiff jacket has to be better than no jacket, but beyond this basic fact, the topic becomes a lot deeper. Just like with helmets.
SO.... helmets are part of a holistic PPE package. Once we’ve passed obvious conclusions that ANY helmet is better than none, we quickly get into the holistic topic.
And, at the end of the day, our personal choice is driven by our own “risk compensation factor” meaning each of us has to decide the level of risk we’re happy with. There is NO SUCH thing as 100% safe anything, least of all motorcycles. We all CHOOSE TO ACCEPT DEATH OR INJURY as a potential consequence every time we ride; kinda strange when you think about it!
Finally, within ‘risk compensation’ lies yet another twist in that, the better our PPE the safer we feel, and the safer we feel, the greater the level of risk we will subconsciously accept. Therefore... the safer your kit, the more dangerous your riding...!!
Blimey, I’ve made myself scared to ride now. Think I’ll go for a walk instead, but wait, what about pedestrian accident rates...
Ramble over.
