That had to realy hurt if he didnt had his helmet on  
http://bmwdean.home.att.net/swisherhelmet11x17.pdf

Rather than rely on a helmet to protect my face I prefer to avoid the accident in the first place.  You will notice that the link makes no mention of the acts involved prior to the accident in which the helmet was impacted.  I assume that this is because the biker was doing something that they shouldn't have done, or failed to do something they should have done.

Ma Bell does not belive in accidents.  Collisions are the fault of the Bell System driver doing what he shouldn't  or not doing what he should.  I've carried this over into my personal life.  Whenever I see an accident I try to figure how it occured and whether it would have caught me:

http://www.dslretorts.com/Paladin/archives/000672.html

http://www.dslretorts.com/Paladin/archives/000108.html

You will notice that both accidents involve a controlled intersection where at least one party trusted the ability of the traffic signal to stop other vehicles.  I don't trust others.

At each and every intersection I am looking for someone doing twice the speed limit to come flying out on an intercept course.  As I tried to explain on suzuki-bikes.com this involves hard snaps of the head left-right-center in the last second or half second prior to entering the intersection.  A three-pound plus full face helmet prevents this level of defensive driving.  My two-pound DOT beanie causes neck pain after an hour ride on city streets.  This may be why I have never seen another rider checking controlled intersections to the extent that I do.

You see the scratched helmet and say "It protected his face."  I see the scratched helmet and wonder "What was he doing or not doing to cause or fail to avoid the accident?"  I wish to avoid accidents so as to not need 'gear' to protect me.  A helmet impairs my ability to do so.  I would prefer to not wear any helmet.  Unfortunately, the law says I must endure the helmet because other people fail to avoid accidents.

You can also wear a neoprene full face mask (clickable) to keep out bugs/cold.

Paladin. wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:06:


I learned the hard way several years ago that if it is a low speed accident impending sometimes it is better to let them hit you (whilst in a cage of course!!!).  I avoided a car to car accident from an inattentive driver merging into my lane and I didn't have enough room to fully stop so I pulled to the right as much as possible and ended up hitting the curb.  The insurance company held me at fault for damaging my own vehicle (because I was trying to avoid having the other person slam into my side).  My suspension was damaged and it was a $700 repair bill...if I had let the dummy hit me it probably would have been $2000+ repair bill (body work, repainting, possible damaged suspension etc) but atleast I would have been covered without my insurance rates going up.

RED WINE glad to see you post was the earthquake down there last week close to you?

I'm all for avoiding the accidents in the first place however I would encourage no one to ride without a helmet.  I think everyone has heard the quote "there are riders who have laid it down and then there are riders who will."  Well, I am like you.  I hope to prove that wrong.  However I respect this advice from my peers and prepare to minimize my damages should they turn out to be correct.  

Over the weekend one of my buddies became a statistic.  Wrecked his bike within the first two months of owning it.  It is easy to see the mistakes he made.  The first leading to the rest was he went into a corner to fast.  He was at work today with a broken ankle an a scratched up arm but otherwise no big deal.  I knew he had wreck so I thought he had got out pretty easy.  Then he told me how he had to be woken up lying in the ditch.  His helmet had imbeaded itself into the ground.  He would have died had he not be wearing his helmet.  

So while I am confident the only thing I'll be touching with the ground is my feet, I'm going to go ahead and keep putting the helmet on just in case something catches me by suprise.

Like a deer.  I'd have to say that's my #1 fear.  How do you minimize risk there.  I'd like to think my new superloud SE II might scare them off.

I'll use both.  While bones heal and skin grows back, it $#!@%!@ hurts.  It also heals slower the older you get.  I'll hedge my bets when I can.