pwb@trwrb.UUCP (05/08/84)
In response to Mr. Fischell: I've been a serious biker for about seven
years now, the first 1.5 years I rode without a helmet. What changed my
mind? Two incidents. 1) my roommate in college got blown off the road by a
semi-rig (Hwy 1 near Moro Bay, CA...nice big six foot shoulder) in otherwise
calm conditions (no crosswind...the semi drifted into the shoulder and never
stopped). He was wearing a Bell helmet. He was unconcious for three hours,
all his front teeth were knocked out, his helmet was shattered (it had done
it's job, note that crashing with a good helmet tends to destroy them...they
absorb the force rather than transmitting it to your head), his bike
(Viscount) was scrape metal (main frame tubing had clean breaks in three
spots). The doctors at the hospital remarked that without the helmet we
probably would have visited him in the morgue. 2) I was doing a 70 mile day
ride with two other fellows. We were drafting, I was third man back. The
second man was new to our draft (didn't ride with us often). He hung his
front wheel on the leader's rear and went down. I tried to stop but
unfortunatly his body was stopping faster than I could. I struck him in
the back with my front wheel, this caused it to lock (heavy breaking) and I
did a complete forward flip and landed on my back. Luckily myself and my
bike suffered only minor abrasions (the #2 man was a piece of raw meat). I
now ride with a Bell helmet. I never ride ten feet without it. Some people
say that Bell helmets are hot, I say a little bit, but you get used to it.
Some people say Bell helmets shatter, I say they are supposed to (remember,
impulse = F/delta-t, it's high impluse (i.e. low delta-t) that kills, a crushed
helmet effectively increases the delta-t).
Phil Bonesteele, TRW E&DS
{decvax,ucbvax,inhp4,hplabs}!trwrb!pwb