Why do we have to wear helmets when...?

Zoe Love

Why do we have to wear helmets on bicycles?
If you think about it, there are more risks driving in a car and we don't wear helmets in the car?
There were nearly 6,420,000 auto accidents in the United States in 2005. And 42,636 people killed.
And as for bicycles 350,000 children ages 14 and under were treated in hospital emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries. And 250 children ages 14 and under died in bicycle-related crashes. Motor vehicles were involved in 230 of these deaths. Yet we wear helmets on bicycles not cars? Wearing a helmet in a car could've saved 1,000s of people as many die from brain related injuries. And why do we wear them on bicycles?

Answer
To protect your head\ brain, if your hit by a car on a bike your head could hit the ground with the same force as the car or be crushed under another car.

Cars have seatbelts & airbags to restrain your head from hitting anything hard, the car is also like a cage which stops your head from hitting the ground.

I think a helmet would restric your vision and increase the chances of an accident

I'm sure if wearing a helmet did drastically improve survival rate it would be compulsory

Can wearing a motorcycle helmet increase your chance of injury?

Bob

I've asked before, I'm asking again:

I'm looking for information on motorcycle helmets and injuries. Specifically I need to find cases where someone on a motorcycle was:

a)wearing a helmet.

b)involved in an accident.

c)suffered injuries that would not have occurred if they had been wearing a helmet, or had injuries that were worsened because of the helmet.

I don't need second hand hearsay. I don't need to know about this thing that happened to this one guy you know. I facts that can be verified.

Also - if any medical professionals would we willing to correspond with me regarding this subject I'd appreciate it.

Thanks for your time.
Greydoc6 - I could really use your help. If you'd be interested in corresponding with me my email address is bigbob (at) ameritech (dot) net. Thank you for your time.
I am not an attorney. I have no professional interest in this at all. I am an avid motorcyclist and I ALWAYS wear a helmet when I ride.

I'm currently invovled in a debate with a local political lobbying group and I'm trying to find ammo for my side of the arguement: helmets are a good idea, and any arguement to the contrary is BS.

Thanks all for your help.

Answer
It is conceivable that a helmet could be a cause of injury. There may be rare cases where this is so.

However, a bicyclist or motorcyclist is statistically much less likely to sustain a head injury if wearing a helmet. This has been demonstrated in various ways many times.

For part of my career, I would serve as a ward attending on the convalescent unit for one month per year. On the ward there were always one or two kids with severe head injuries sustained from bicycle or ATV injuries. Practically all such patients were not wearing head protection at the time of the accident. Most survived, but recovery was painfully slow and often incomplete, requiring years of rehabilitation.

So the resistance to wearing helmets and your implication that they are harmful is very frustrating from my viewpoint.

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Title Post: Why do we have to wear helmets when...?
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