WD wrote on 09/18/13 at 20:00:46:Spiff wrote on 09/18/13 at 14:11:18:WD wrote on 09/18/13 at 12:39:33:I've buried far too many riders who's necks got broken in otherwise light injury/damages crashes to ever believe #3.
Color me confused.
Does that mean you think the myth is true, or vice versa?
On second thought, maybe
my question is confusing. So I'll ask it this way: Do you believe motorcycle helmets break necks?
In plain English, I've buried several friends and relatives who would have had bruises or a couple broken bones if their helmets had not snapped their necks. And that is straight from the medical examiners in each incident.
Far as I'm concerned, helmets kill. Not always, not even often, but they can/do cause otherwise survivable collisions to become fatalities. As soon as I enter a free choice state, or private property, my helmet comes OFF.
I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your friends and relatives, WD. I've not had to face that myself so far, thank goodness.
Although there are exceptions, statistics say that overall, one is safer to ride with a helmet than without.
I'm remembering a talk I had with a State Patrol Officer after a car was T-boned by a semi-truck where a back seat passenger survived, probably because she was NOT wearing her seat belt. If she had, her body, anchored at the waist by a seat belt, would have been sheared in two by the truck's front end coming through the side of the car. Instead, she was slammed to the other side of the car. She suffered serious injuries, but she survived.
So, do I wear a seat belt when I'm driving a car? You bet I do, because the odds are in my favor, despite some crash conditions that would make them detrimental.
The question to ask, and there may not be an answer for many of the cases you cited, is whether those crashes were so violent that necks would have been snapped with or without helmets.
Me, I wear a full-face helmet and an airbag vest that inflates in .25 seconds if I'm thrown from my motorcycle. The inflated vest has a collar/cuff that surrounds the neck.