kwlalonde@watmath.UUCP (07/11/84)
Subject: Re Hit face first? : net.cycle > Its been my experience (direct, and of friends) that you dont usually > hit the front side of the head directly, but rather the top or sides, > which (if you believe helmets work over 25mph) open or closed face > helmets provide the same protection. >>a.nguyen houxm!hou2h!an >>Pure coincidence! When you're merrily tumbling along at 60 mph, >>tell me you have great control over what part of your anatomy will >>contact the macadam first. Even if you have enough presence of >>mind, fast enough reflexes, and fine enough motor control to direct >>your ear to go in first, the laws of physics might just reward you >>with a broken neck or a broken shoulder. I never said anything about "controlling" where you impact, just that probabilities favour "the front of the head" in a "direct" hit. The front of the head (ie: face) is a small part of your total body area combined with arms and legs thrashing about and getting in the way why should it be just "pure coincidence" that the face lucks out in a lot of cases??? The argument was about full-face protection, not helmets in general if you were just a head rolling along, and assuming a roughly cubic geometry, and assume the side that conects to your neck doesnt exist, that leaves front,back,left,right,top open-helmets cover the back,left,right,top leaving as I said before the game of "playing the odds". Broken neck/shoulder? EXACTLY!!!! injuries at high speeds seem to be anything but damaging to your nose-job. (Wanna hear argument about the weight of helmets making neck injuries worse? or the first person at the scene removes your helmet first thing AND CAUSING the neck injury from their own stupidity??) - Ken Dykes Software Development Group, University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. N2L 3G1 watmath!watrose!watbun!kgdykes
an@hou2h.UUCP (A.NGUYEN) (07/12/84)
- I can show you many a helmets with scrape marks on the chin piece, too, so there! BTW, helmet removing is a two person operation! Au
dave@rocksvax.UUCP (07/14/84)
I just recently got to see my helmet after my auto altercation, there
are big scrapes on the chin and front of my helmet. I am glad that day
I was wearing leather jacket, Tourstar helmet, gloves, leather pants
and workboots. Without some of those, I am sure I would have been
damaged more than just a broken tibia. No road rash to go with pain of
my broken bone.
--
Dave
arpa: Sewhuk.HENR@Xerox.ARPA
uucp: {allegra,rochester,amd,sunybcs}!rocksvax!davelee@unmvax.UUCP (07/14/84)
My first wreck on my first bike got me my first broken nose when a
fire hydrant got in the way of my head while I was sliding on the ground.
My friends second wreck on his Xth bike nearly removed his chin. Another
friends Xth wreck on his first dirt bike nearly removed the upper layers of
skin from his face. Another friend was a passenger on a bike when the driver
decided to try to climb a guide cable. His face required cosmetic surgery.
This leaves about four people that I know well who haven't landed on their
faces yet who ride bikes. So, this leaves me to conclude:
1) New Mexico dirt has a great affection for that part of the head called
the face.
2) That the "odds are you won't land on your face" side of this argument
is a pretty dangerous assumption. Or to take you back to your first
philosophy class. "Nobody has seen a black swan so it doesn't exist."
--
--Lee (Ward)
{ucbvax,convex,gatech,pur-ee}!unmvax!leekel@ea.UUCP (07/22/84)
#R:watmath:-830900:ea:2800001:000:453 ea!kel Jul 21 17:20:00 1984 When falling, the panic impulse makes you want to try to stay upright and facing forward, which oftener than not works out head first and face down. In any case, the relative flatness of the front and back of the human body means the front and back of the head project outward from the body. Thus you have a much greater chance of taking hits to either the front or back of the head than intuition might lead you to think. Protect your chin. Ken