US helmet manufacturer Riddell was ordered to pay US$3 millions in compensation to an injured football player who suffered severe brain damage, as well as paralysis on his left side, despite wearing a helmet. A Colorado jury found Riddell negligent in failing to warn players about concussion dangers. This is one of many lawsuits against [...]
Archive for the ‘Helmets’ Category
Helmet manufacturer ordered to pay $3 millions as compensation for brain injury
April 28th, 2013 
admin 
Posted in 
The fallacy of the cracked helmet
April 5th, 2013 admin Abstract A cracked helmet is a helmet that has failed. It is more likely to be an indication of an accident that wouldn’t have happened without the helmet, than “proof” the helmet saved your life. Many people look at a cracked or broken helmet and believe it is “proof” it saved their life. Actually, it [...]
Barefoot running and cycling
January 28th, 2013 admin An interesting analogy between barefoot running and cycling: For years it has been ingrained in to folk that go hill-walking that it is *essential* to wear “stout footwear with proper ankle support”, with the latter taken to mean a high lacing cuff and the phrase really meaning big, stiff hiking boots. In more recent times [...]
The surprising impact of helmets on safety
January 9th, 2013 admin Abstract Contrary to popular belief, helmets main impact on safety has not been the protection they provide, but the increased in the risk of accident associated with them. Although helmets do protect, they have not protected enough to compensate for this increased risk of accident. Although the motivation for wearing a bicycle helmet is to reduce the [...]
The myth that bicycle helmets protect against brain injury
October 3rd, 2012 admin Abstract Severe brain injury is caused by rotational acceleration (the head turning quickly). Bicycle helmets cannot protect against it, and are known to amplify rotational acceleration to levels causing permanent disability. Helmets should not be misrepresented as preventing permanent disability when they are more likely to cause it. blank What surgeons say There is a [...]
Misguided doctors or marketing agents?
June 11th, 2012 admin Abstract In the 1980′s, Bell, a helmet manufacturer, was keen to expand the market for bicycle helmets, its most profitable product. It approached the Snell foundation and offered funding for research on bicycle helmets. The Snell foundation chose avid bicycle helmet lobbyists to conduct this “research”. Those helmet lobbyists first “research” claimed that helmets reduce [...]
My helmet saved my life!
May 5th, 2012 admin Abstract Despite many emotional claims that “my helmet saved my life”, the risk of death & serious injury increased after the helmet law. The risk of accident almost doubled, but the protection provided by helmets did not compensate for the rise in accidents. What the data tells us The claim that “my helmet saved [...]
Trying to deny that helmets can aggravate brain injury
March 31st, 2012 admin Abstract Several studies have reported that bicycle helmets tend to increase rotational acceleration in an accident, increasing the risk of serious brain injury. The Australian government has funded a study that attempts to deny this. The study set up unrealistic conditions where rotational acceleration is low. The study results are arbitrarily generalized to all helmets in [...]
Helmet believers doubtful after increase in injuries
February 18th, 2012 admin Helmet believers do not like to admit that the helmet law was a mistake. A helmet believer from Canada researched this topic and reports a decrease in cycling and an increase in the risk of injury in provinces of Canada where a helmet law has been introduced. “A study that compared six-year periods on either side [...]
Do helmets really protect racing cyclists?
January 26th, 2012 admin Most sport cyclists wear a helmet as it is “obvious” that it protects them. Does it really protect? Since helmets have been made mandatory, deaths of professional cyclists while racing have doubled: “The helmet rule for professional cyclists was brought by the UCI in 2003 following the death of Andrei Kivlev during the Paris-Nice race. Since then [...]
