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helmet saved me

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UK and Europe
Published
5 December 2003
Last activity
6 December 2003
Original author
Ian Smith
Posts
33
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  1. My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots can
    get out of this one:

    I went to get the bike out of teh garage, but after I'd opened the door, remebered something in teh
    house. Nipped back indoors, and then out to the garage again at a trot. Went round the corner
    semi-looking backwards and SMACK, I'm knocked to teh ground.

    When I sorted myself out, I found I'd ran sideways into teh edge of the garage door, which had
    drooped slightly from fully open. Anyhow, this _proves_ helmets are essential if you're going to be
    safe in your garage:

    1: teh blow was hard enough to knock me off my feet - sure to have been an injury had my head been
    unprotected

    2: the blow was straight on, so you lot that blether about torsional injuries can't get out
    of this one

    3: since I was facing in teh different direction, and had no perception of approaching door, and no
    sticky-out hair to detect it the reflexes argument doesn't hold water

    4: there's a sizeable hole in teh helmet with lots of crushed (not split) foam, so loads of energy
    was dissipated

    5: I'm sure risk compensation can't have played a part, because Ioften run round corners looking in
    the oppositte direction and it's never injured me before (well, not recently)

    I think I'll form a pressure group and get an EDM drawn up. "GIT" I'll call it - Garage-helmet
    Initiative Trust", then signed-up members can be GITs.

    Just think of the number of people that go into garages every day, at risk of serious head injury,
    and how that would be eliminated were we to make garage helmets compulsory! Imagine - I expect we
    could actually save the NHS more than it spends in any given year.

    regards, Ian SMith
    --
    |\ /| no .sig
    |o o|
    |/ \|

  2. "Ian Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:

    My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots
    can get out of this one:

    I went to get the bike out of teh garage, but after I'd opened the door, remebered something in
    teh house. Nipped back indoors, and then out to the garage again at a trot. Went round the corner
    semi-looking backwards and SMACK, I'm knocked to teh ground.

    When I sorted myself out, I found I'd ran sideways into teh edge of the garage door, which had
    drooped slightly from fully open. Anyhow, this _proves_ helmets are essential if you're going to
    be safe in your garage:

    1: teh blow was hard enough to knock me off my feet - sure to have been an injury had my head been
    unprotected

    2: the blow was straight on, so you lot that blether about torsional injuries can't get out of
    this one

    3: since I was facing in teh different direction, and had no perception of approaching door, and
    no sticky-out hair to detect it the reflexes argument doesn't hold water

    4: there's a sizeable hole in teh helmet with lots of crushed (not split) foam, so loads of energy
    was dissipated

    5: I'm sure risk compensation can't have played a part, because Ioften run round corners looking
    in the oppositte direction and it's never injured me before (well, not recently)

    I think I'll form a pressure group and get an EDM drawn up. "GIT" I'll call it - Garage-helmet
    Initiative Trust", then signed-up members can be GITs.

    Just think of the number of people that go into garages every day, at risk of serious head injury,
    and how that would be eliminated were we to make garage helmets compulsory! Imagine - I expect we
    could actually save the NHS more than it spends in any given year.

    regards, Ian SMith
    --
    |\ /| no .sig
    |o o|
    |/ \|


    I wish I had been wearing mine when I walked into the pointy bit on the dge of my shed whilst
    looking down mowing the lawn. No warning and a hole in the head to boot. Stupid GIT. Cheers Graham

  3. Ian Smith said:

    My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots
    can get out of this one:

    Damn! You got me bang to rights. I propose compulsory helmets for all Mini owners, as anybody who
    has ever opened the bonnet of a Mini has a scar on the back of the head to prove it.

    --
    Guy chapmancentral.demon.co.ukchapmancentral.demon.co.uk "Sic hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter
    educatus et nimis propinquus ades"

  4. "Ian Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:

    My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots
    can get out of this one:

    Quite right. As my own misfortune illustrates:

    I opened the up-and-over door at the side of my house but not quite all the way. I then ducked under
    and went to my bike but before donning my h*lmet I realised I'd left my bottle indoors, so I spun
    round and headed back absent mindedly, WHACK!! (Batman, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh,Batman...). Oh my
    bl**dy (literally) head!

    Now of course had I not forgot my bottle and not needed to return my next passage under the door
    would have been carried out avec h*lmet on my noggin' thus protecting it, as it normally does when I
    can't be bothered to open the door fully.

    I think between us we have proved the case for h*lmets :-)

    Pete

  5. Ian Smith said:

    My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots
    can get out of this one:

    We can. After all the helmet increased the size of your head leading to an increased probability
    that you would hit the garage door. The only way to convince us it to do the control experiment
    without a helmet and post jpegs here.

    Tony

  6. Ian Smith posted ...

    Quoted message said:

    My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots
    can get out of this one:

    Wish I'd worn a helmet the day my old Landrovers bonnet came crashing down as I was leaning into the
    engine bay ... wouldn't have helped my neck at all, but it may have helped my forehead from the
    bonnet-catch imprint I wore for a week or so ...

    Luckily we'd removed the spare wheel and hung it on the rear door ... 😉

    --
    Digweed .... 😉

  7. "Ian Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:

    My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots
    can get out of this one:

    snip

    Proof at last that helmets should be made compulsory when at home as this is where we are at
    greatest risk.

    T

  8. Ian Smith said:

    My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots
    can get out of this one:

    I have a magnet attached to my up & over garage door and when the door is up the magnet is about 6'
    1" from the ground. On more than one occasion this 6' 2" person has banged his head on the darn
    thing ! Wish I was a cyclist so I would have a helmet to protect me and the children

  9. In "]news:[email hidden], Ian Smith <[email hidden]> typed:

    Quoted message said:

    My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots
    can get out of this one:

    I went to get the bike out of teh garage, but after I'd opened the door, remebered something in
    teh house. Nipped back indoors, and then out to the garage again at a trot. Went round the corner
    semi-looking backwards and SMACK, I'm knocked to teh ground.

    Done that on a bike in a canal tunnel. Not wearing a helmet, and it hurt. It was a long tunnel, and
    unlit (indeed, near derelict), so I wasn't expecting the diameter to change.

  10. Graham Bowers said:

    "Ian Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

    Quoted message said:

    I think I'll form a pressure group and get an EDM drawn up. "GIT" I'll call it - Garage-helmet
    Initiative Trust", then signed-up members can be GITs.

    I wish I had been wearing mine when I walked into the pointy bit on the dge of my shed whilst
    looking down mowing the lawn. No warning and a hole in the head to boot. Stupid GIT.

    Five years ago I got a narrowboat wedged across the Mon & Brec canal while wife and crew were
    walking on to mooring point and pub. Having set the engine into reverse I ran through the boat to
    pole the front off the bank. Craaackk. Head hit steel door lintel slicing a flap from the scalp.
    With tea-towel over head held on by hat, and red stuff oozing down over ears, I managed to get the
    boat going. Caught up crew and coz it was only third day of trip, stupidity decided hospital would
    not be sensible. Head healed but with a permanent lump. While I now beleive that helmets must be
    compulsory on narrowboats, the main result is that I'm 1/4" taller.

    So instead of being a short fat Git :-( I'm now a tall fat Git :-)

    Can I join pleasey please?

    John B

  11. Ambrose Nankivell said:

    In "]news:[email hidden], Ian Smith <[email hidden]> typed:

    Quoted message said:

    My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots
    can get out of this one:

    I went to get the bike out of teh garage, but after I'd opened the door, remebered something in
    teh house. Nipped back indoors, and then out to the garage again at a trot. Went round the
    corner semi-looking backwards and SMACK, I'm knocked to teh ground.

    Done that on a bike in a canal tunnel. Not wearing a helmet, and it hurt. It was a long tunnel,
    and unlit (indeed, near derelict), so I wasn't expecting the diameter to change.

    Or indeed to find an open garage door waiting to be head-butted ;-)

    Wear your helmets with pride _everywhere_ .

    John B

  12. mae <[email hidden]> wedi ysgrifennu:

    Quoted message said:

    I have a magnet attached to my up & over garage door and when the door is up the magnet is about
    6' 1" from the ground. On more than one occasion this 6' 2" person has banged his head on the
    darn thing

    Just check the exposed polarity of the magnet. Then attach a magnet to your head with the same pole
    exposed. You will then be automagically repelled whenever a head-magnet collision seems inevitable.

    --
    Rob

    Please keep conversations in the newsgroup so that all may contribute and benefit.

  13. JohnB said:
    Graham Bowers said:

    "Ian Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

    Quoted message said:

    I think I'll form a pressure group and get an EDM drawn up. "GIT" I'll call it - Garage-helmet
    Initiative Trust", then signed-up members can be GITs.

    I wish I had been wearing mine when I walked into the pointy bit on the dge of my shed whilst
    looking down mowing the lawn.

    Five years ago I got a narrowboat wedged across the Mon & Brec canal while wife and crew were
    walking on to mooring point and pub.

    You see! You see! It seems my statistics were further adrift than I feared - I posted about one
    head-injury from a garage saved by wearing a helmet, and within an hour there are reports of
    half-a-dozen others, sadly most of which resulted in serious consequences - John had a long and
    happy evening of beer ahead of him, and instead, for want of a helmet....

    Anyway, it seems the savings are even greater than I antyicipated - if we conservatively assume
    2873.62 pounds per head injury, at the rate reported here (6 per hour), multiplying by 17.3 (to
    reflect sample size) we find that teh GIT proposal would save the country 7.1 million pounds per
    day, or 2.6 billion pounds per annum (not counting leap years)! What's more, that doesn't include
    teh secondary damage to teh economy (reduced demand for barmen, lawn-mowers and so on).

    I'm a bit disturbed to find that many dangerous garages are masquarading as (variously) sheds,
    narrow-boats, land-rovers and minis, but we must be VIGILANT!

    regards, Ian SMith
    --
    |\ /| no .sig
    |o o|
    |/ \|

  14. Ian Smith said:

    When I sorted myself out, I found I'd ran sideways into teh edge of the garage door, which had
    drooped slightly from fully open. Anyhow, this _proves_ helmets are essential if you're going to
    be safe in your garage:

    My garage has slide-around style doors, not up and over style, so it is highly dependent on the
    garage... ;-)

    Pete.
    --
    Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
    Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
    dundee.ac.uk~pjclinch

  15. (cross-posted to uk.rec.helmets)

    Following on from Ian Smith's message. . .

    Quoted message said:

    You see! You see! It seems my statistics were further adrift than I feared - I posted about one
    head-injury from a garage saved by wearing a helmet, and within an hour there are reports of
    half-a-dozen others, sadly most of which resulted in serious consequences - John had a long and
    happy evening of beer ahead of him, and instead, for want of a helmet....

    Anyway, it seems the savings are even greater than I antyicipated - if we conservatively assume
    2873.62 pounds per head injury, at the rate reported here (6 per hour), multiplying by 17.3 (to
    reflect sample size) we find that teh GIT proposal would save the country 7.1 million pounds per
    day, or 2.6 billion pounds per annum (not counting leap years)! What's more, that doesn't include
    teh secondary damage to teh economy (reduced demand for barmen, lawn-mowers and so on).

    Ha! You are nothing but a hat-waving charlatan jumping to conclusions! If you analysed your sample
    scientifically you would see a ratio of male to female of 100% to 0%. Or as we say in English :"All
    the accident victims are men". The men are obviously doing something wrong...

    If men wore high heels none of the accidents described would have happened, or would have happened
    at such low speed to be very minor. High heeled shoes are tried and tested technology, available in
    many colours and styles in every high street.

    This is clearly a better answer than helmets 'cos shoes are already desirable fashion items unlike
    nerdy placcy-hats. (Hint: Christmas is

    'how thoughtful-just what I always wanted' of finding a boring helmet in your stocking.)

    --
    PETER FOX Not the same since the statuette business went bust
    [email hidden] www.eminent.demon.co.uk/wcc.htm Witham Cycling
    Campaign www.eminent.demon.co.uk/rides East Anglian Pub cycle rides

  16. I had a similar experience a Several of years ago with a low pipe in the basement garage of the Nut
    Mines wherein I then toiled. Happily I had ridden in on my upright that day, and was thus still
    wearing my lid while walking towards the exit, rather than having already stashed it in the tailbox
    as was my wont when Lying Down On The Job...

    --

    Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk
    ===========================================================
    Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
    bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.uk
    ===========================================================

  17. Ian Smith <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

    Quoted message said:

    My helmet saved me from a really nasty injury this morning, and none of you anti-helmet zealots
    can get out of this one: garage door incident snipped

    Quoted message said:

    Just think of the number of people that go into garages every day,


    at

    Quoted message said:

    risk of serious head injury, and how that would be eliminated were we to make garage helmets
    compulsory! Imagine - I expect we could actually save the NHS more than it spends in any
    given year.

    regards, Ian SMith

    The other argument for compulsory helmet wearing is of course preventing head injuries whilst
    drinking in public places. Whether from falling over or getting a Buckfast bottle on the head.
    Although risk compensation might affect results. A helmet wearer might throw caution to the wind and
    either drink more or be more liable to look at a Buckfast drinker the wrong way. Iain

  18. "Graham Bowers" <[email hidden]> wrote

    Quoted message said:

    I wish I had been wearing mine when I walked into the pointy bit on the


    dge

    Quoted message said:

    of my shed whilst looking down mowing the lawn. No warning and a hole in


    the

    Quoted message said:

    head to boot. Stupid GIT.

    Surely the obviously dangerous "pointy bit" should have had a warning sign. Find one of those
    accident specialist solicitors and sue yourself.

  19. On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 20:34:42 +0000 (UTC) someone who may be "Peter B" <[email hidden]>
    wrote this:-

    Quoted message said:

    I think between us we have proved the case for h*lmets :-)

    For pedestrians.

    Of course some of us "anti-helmet zealots" have argued that helmets should be worn by
    pedestrians first.

    --
    David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E I will always explain revoked
    keys, unless the UK government prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

  20. Peter B said:

    I opened the up-and-over door at the side of my house but not quite all the way. I then ducked
    under and went to my bike but before donning my h*lmet I realised I'd left my bottle indoors, so I
    spun round and headed back absent mindedly, WHACK!! (Batman, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh,Batman...).
    Oh my bl**dy (literally) head!

    Now of course had I not forgot my bottle and not needed to return my next passage under the door
    would have been carried out avec h*lmet on my noggin' thus protecting it, as it normally does when
    I can't be bothered to open the door fully.

    I think between us we have proved the case for h*lmets :-)

    It's the spinning around under the doorframe that does it. I spent a year as a student living in a
    room whose door was not only shorter than me, but did not fit its frame. Some previous tenant had
    nailed a strip of beading under the lintel to cover the gap, leaving a sharp corner pointing
    downwards. Every time I forgot something half-way through the door--- generally my keys---I would
    turn around but straighten up as I did so, slicing my head on this corner. Every time.

    Currently my bedroom door is under 5' high. With a helmet on I don't think I could get through it at
    all without crawling---and I couldn't put it on in the room, since I'm taller than the room is
    already. Clearly helmet- wearing dismounted cyclists weren't designed for in the domestic
    architecture of the 17th century.

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