Helmet Laws do not suck as much as a fractured sinus cavity, broken jaw, and lacerations

Elsewhere, the Roethlisberger motorcycle crash story is tearing up the internets. Big Ben was not wearing a helmet, and the response from Steelers nation and elsewhere has been predictably bitter. A slight digression from the usual blather here to offer some thoughts:
1) Best wishes to Big Ben and his family.
2) Only assholes do not wear helmets.
3) The state-by-state patchwork of helmet laws/no helmet law is not the issue. There is no law prohibiting me from using a hair dryer in the tub, but I don't because I know better.

That said, as someone who has logged more than a few miles on an unpowered two-wheel vehicle:

4) Not having cars hit you is an even better way to stay safe than wearing a helmet. If you get hit by a car on a bike or motorcycle, chances are, you will get messed up, no matter what. Based in the early reports, a vehicle pulled in front of the QB, leaving him without options. If this turns out to be the case, the inattention of the other motorist is a much bigger factor than helmet or no. The helmet/no helmet issue seems to be a shortcut many journalists use in deciding blame. Generally speaking helmet=innocent victim, no helmet=limited sympathy. In the summer of 2004, there was a fatal bike accident on Lincoln St. in Allston, MA--much was made of the fact that the young woman was not wearing a helmet, and very little of the fact that she was broadsided by an SUV.

So: Wear a fucking helmet if your vehicle has fewer than four wheels. Make sure it is the right helmet, and that it fits. (Mom and Dad: Letting Dustin and Cheyenne tool around the subdivision with helmets cocked back at a festive yamulkesque angle won't do much good, and may lower their SAT scores.) If some clown in a car, truck and SUV runs you over, you may still die, but at least they will not have the excuse that you were not wearing a helmet.

The bright spot in all of this? Some impromptu tailgating:
The recovery period for the Steeler Nation may be longer, however. The first sign that Steelers' fans were taking this hard came with the news that hundreds of people were holding vigil outside of the hospital during the surgery. And being Steelers fans, of course, some had brought with them portable grills. This is absolutely true; Roethlisberger's seven-hour surgery provided yet another opportunity for Steelers' fans to do a little tailgating.

Comments

[New Orleans]

If you take to the streets on a bicycle, you take your life in your hands, and that's the bottom line. People in cars are stupid and not paying attention. I used to have a bumper sticker on my car that said,

"Look twice - save a life"

from some Harley group some place. Good advice.

[BK]

And remember, kids, if you wanna roll like Nicholson in Easy Rider ("Oh, I've got a helmet...") leave the facemask on (even an old-school, punter-stizz, single bar would have saved Big Ben's jaw).

P.S. The Mercy Hospital website does not stipulate proper vigil tailgating protocol. One would hope open flame hibachis are legal. I know they are (encouraged, in fact!) at Bellin Memorial in Green Bay.

[punisher]

From JAMA 01/19/2005: Motorcycles are the most dangerous type of motor vehicle to drive. These vehicles are involved in fatal crashes at a rate of 35.0 per 100 million miles of travel, compared with a rate of 1.7 per 100 million miles of travel for passenger cars.

From a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, 2002, helmets did significantly decrease risk of death in motorcycle accidents: ABSTRACT: The association of helmet use with death in a motorcycle crash can be estimated using matched-pair cohort methods... The relative risk of death, accounting for the matching on motorcycle and adjusted for age, sex, and seat position, for a helmeted rider compared with an unhelmeted rider was 0.61...

I'd also expect that NFL QBs come out of a motorcycle accident better than record store employees, matched for age, helmeting, seat position, etc.