I was fascinated to read this the other day. NASA is waiting to hear what
SCCA hands down as well.
I remember reading about other studies pertaining to motorcyclists that
found that full-face helmets cause jaw injuries in accidents where the
front of helmet smacks something hard. The helmet can rotate on the
wearer's head causing the chin strap to torque the wearer's jaw really
hard. Also, I've read the additional weight of a helmet can cause extra
forces on the wearer's neck. My brother-in-law justifies his "beanie"
style Harley-rider-cool-guy helmet with that latter claim.
In a motorcycle crash, smacking your face down on the asphalt with an open
face helmet is likely to cause more (and worse) damage than just a broken
jaw. I wear a full face helmet when I ride.
In a car, however, that "soft pillowy" airbag has been designed to stop
your face from hitting the steering wheel. When a short older family
member hit another car head-on, her airbag hit her so hard it broke every
capillary in her face causing giant red bruises over most of her face for a
few weeks. But she was not HURT. I can imagine that that kind of impact
could twist a full face helmet on your head like it would if you'd fallen
face first off a motorcycle.
For a head-on impact, the airbag and the helmet are trying to accomplish
the same thing, and the airbag is probably a much better solution.
On the other hand, I don't really want to be completely without a helmet
when I autocross. I had an interesting snap spin in the MR2 once
(surprise) that was so quick and unexpected that I whacked my helmet on the
(somewhat high) driver door panel. Some cars have roll cages very near the
driver's head, and some don't have much clearance due to low roof lines,
etc. There's a value to wearing a helmet even in our relatively safe sport.
If they do produce legitimate studies that show full-face helmets are more
dangerous in cars with airbags, I will understand if the SCCA decides to
mandate open-face helmets in cars with airbags.
Jake
At 01:27 PM 11/19/2004 -0500, you wrote:
-------------------- Begin Original Message --------------------
Message text written by "Bryan Nemy"
" contact with the chin area of a full-face
helmet can be so powerful "that the risk of fractures to the jaw cannot be
ruled out" (Hubert Gramling, FIA Institute, FT3/AF, 18.5.1999)."
-------------------- End Original Message --------------------
While the above is only a recomendation at this time, I have to ask what
happens to anybody whose face is exposed to the air bag "safety" device
during a collision?
Does this study include what happens to a person wearing an "open-face"
helmet?
I'm having difficulty resolving how a "study" done in Formula 1 cars
relates to sedans.
--John Kelly
|