Mandatory helmets ?

i really like to ski with a helmet i think that some look really good and its a good idea, i hate icy landings even with a helmet it still hurts if you smack your head.
 
I forget where I read it, but I read that wearing one makes little difference in accidents above certain speeds. They don't stop concussions which is the typical head injury. I can't think of too many ski accidents in which a person without a helmet had their head split open.
 
pretty damn stupid to force people to save their own lives...just like the seatbelt law...if people want to be stupid let them

oh by the way i hardly ever wear my seatbelt and i never wear a helmet
 
See you say that now. But when your bleeding on the pavement, its no longer your problem, its out of your hands. Its now the problem of the team of paramedics who have to rescue you, the doctors who have to save you, and the insurance company that has to pay for it all. The same goes for skiign with a helmet. You can say that its only your problem now, but when u hit ur head on a rail and fracture your skull, your now unconcious you dont have to do anything. Instead the ski patrol has to come out and haul ur ass down, paramedics have to come pick ur ass up and it goes on.....
 
Really, well you should take a look at the giant crevace in the back of my helmet, theres even a thread I made about it as well. Without my helmet not only would I have a concussion, but most likely be in a coma or dead right now. But yeah, they don't do that much.
 
it depends on the crash. of course yours helped you, thank god. but in some types of crashes, helmets decrease risk in head injury, but drastically increase risk in neck injury. sucks eh.
 
I probably wouldnt mind as much if I could actually find a helmet to fit my huge ass head. Every helmet Ive ever tried on hasnt fit right at all. I have to special order my hats cause my head is an 8 and a 1/4
 
they make you're neck snap back if you hit the front of your head causing whiplash, or if you hit the top they'll compress your spine, and no they don't prevent concussions which is caused by your jaw being forced upward.
 
I think if having madatory helmets can lower insurance rates, and therefore allow for your local hill to put more money into it's park and make it even better then why not?
 
Concussions are internal bleeding from your brain rattling around in your skull. With a helmet on, your brain hits your skull at the smae speed it would without one.
 
Ok partner, hitting the top of your head without a helmet will make your neck compress, thats fucking obvious. If you hit the front, your skull will not be crushed, and I know that a helmet wouldn't cause any extra whiplash, thats just bullshit. And by the way, a concussion is caused by your brain slamming into the side of your head and bruising. Maybe you need a helmet, sounds like you have had a few too many concussions.
 
I didn't say the possibility didn't exist. And mind you things have changed since the study the park gained popularity.

Just to put it out here I've been wearing a helmet for years now. They are warm too.
 
Not ture at all. Although bleeding can also come along with a concussion, that not usually the case. A concussion is the disruption of brain functions (the connnections between the nerve cells are broken) causes by sudden movment of the brain/skull. And with a helmet, the foam absorbs some of the blow so your head does not slow as rapid.

~n~
 
I forgot my opinion. I think its not a totally bad idea but will be hard to start up. Maybe they can start by making helmets in the park mandatory and then go to the whole mountain.

~n~
 
The foam is not cushioning at all. In fact it is pretty hard. I'm not talking about the fabric covered stuff that is there for comfort that is easily depressed and your head would push past on impact. The foam beyound that. That doesn't provide any cussion so much as just distance bewteen your head and the object.

And it is true about your brain slapping against your skull. Your brains floats in a fluid that is supposed to cushion your brain from light bounces. In a ski fall its not enough. You don't get full on bleeding so much as you bruise it a little.
 
Actually the foam does provide protection. It compresses under impact. Yes it is hard if you push it with your finger, but throw a baseball at it and you'll see a dent. Plus most of the new helmets are multiple impact so the foam returns to its uncompress state. I'm ski patrol at my hill so we have to know all of this. And I have seen 2 deaths from head trauma, both not wearing a helmet and both would have had better chances of surviving with a helmet.
 
It's not like i'm trying to be a bad ass, but I hate wearing helmets...I don't huck hard enough to have to worry about it, and I'm old enough to be able to decide that I don't need a helmet...
 
Man you clearly dont understand physics. So I'll explain it for you.

A helmet = greater distance between the air outside and your head. Agreed on that?

Acceleration (or deceleration) is the change in speed divided by the time taken for that change in speed.

Speed = distance divided by time. Hence, Time = Distance divided by Speed.

So, with this equation, we can see that a greater Distance (ie. that created by the helmet being between your skull) means a greater Time taken. Then, through the Acceleration (or deceleration) equation we can see that the force of Acceleration (or deceleration) is less if the time is greater.

This means that wearing a helmet decreses the forces of decelaration on your head during impact, and hence you are less likely to suffer a concussion/whiplash/internal bleeding etc. because the forces are less.

Does that clear it up for you?
 
Your helmet doesn't collapse though under every impact though.

i.e. I slammed my head on a Tremblant rail two years back in the most absurd way. Like my head, and head only was the first thing to make contact with anything and it was the rail and it hit pretty hard. I was wearing a helmet. While yes the helmet probably did some good, the foam did not compress at all, no visible mark on rail, but definitely intense enough to feel the effects of a concussion.

Next time you have your helmet on, have someone just hit you in the head with it on. Not extremely hard, but enough that your head hurts, but no damage done to the helmet. Congradulations, your brain just rattled in your skull.
 
I wear it every time im on skis, and if mothing less it saved my head on the chair, when the safety bar dropped on my head a couple of tomes. I think everybody should use it.
 
it is not a bad idea, but overall helmets are not that effective. Helmets are designed to reduce the severity of head injuries,

but they are most effective at providing protection at speeds of 12 mph or slower.

If you hit a tree, object or another skier at moderate or high speed, a helmet may not prevent or reduce a serious injury.

However, direct 12 mph blows to the head in winter sports are rare. The vast majority of falls involve glancing blows during which the skier or snowboarder may be moving faster than 12 mph, but during the fall the head glances off a surface. Collisions with trees and other upright stationary objects, on the other hand, are much different, as direct blows with full absorption of the force to the head is more likely. However, even in these cases, the shape of a helmet and its hard surface make it more likely that glancing blow will occur, not a direct blow.
 
yeah good one because a lot of people fall from 20 feet down to their head.....its not about growing balls...its about the everyday experience that one can prevent while wearing a helmet...either rails...icy landings(east coast).. other people unfortunately...one bad mistake and you could mess up your life....just think about it
 
here is a rough english translation...

Snow? The government Charest there thinks

« Return to the New November 25 2005

The government Charest examines the possibility to impose the harbor of the helmet to the users of the parks to snows, these sections of the centers reserved skiings to the amateurs of strong sensations.

“We look at this possibility. We did not again return to return the obligatory helmet, but one tests the pulse, one examines this eventuality”, said the minister of the Sport and Leisure, John marc Fournier, at the time of a press conference Thursday to the national assembly.

The minister Fournier is preoccupied by “the important increase” number of injuries suffered each year by the young enamoured one of jumps, of half moons and of ramps.

Of fact, the popularity of the board to snows climbs in arrow to the Quebec but the number of accidents follows the even bends.

According to the last available data, the cases of accidents with injuries in board to snows quintupled in 10 years.

Nevertheless, certain accidents easily could be avoided if usage stricter norms were adopted, estimated MR. Fournier.

“There is people that have not any experience and will try that while being said: if this is there, one can do it. But this is an error. It is necessary norms to assure the security. One does not do skiing to go to the hospital”, he emphasizes.

If it did not again do his nest on the relevance to return the harbor of the obligatory helmet, the minister nevertheless is determined to impose a more squeezed supervision to the promoters of parks to snows.

“It is necessary to review how are constructed the parks to snows. It is necessary to establish a certain manner to do them, to prepare them”, he has mentioned.

The ministry counts to set up a work group formed of the representatives of the skiing centers and authorities of public health, in order to identify the measures more likely to reinforce the security of the “extreme skiing” practiced in the parks to snows.

The question of the security in the skiing centers was raised at the time of the public investigation that has just finished the coroner Andrée Kronstrvm, comparatively to the death of two young men on skiing slopes of the Quebec, to the winter 2003.

According to the one of the quoted studies during the audiences, the harbor of the helmet by the skiers would reduce of 56 percent the risk of injuries engrave to the head and of 29 percent the risk of injuries to the head all degrees of confused seriousness.
 
no thats not entirely true. helmets are made of different types of foam which, even when molded into a strong shape, are still elastic and shock absorbing. the foam is rated for how much pressure per inch it takes to compress it which does reduce but not eliminate concussions.
 
I don't mind when I'm riding in the park or going off piste but I hate wearing one when I'm just cruising about or trying easy stuff.

It's probably a good idea for 90% of skiers though- some people are complete muppets and out of control.
 
I have a RED Hi-Fi and it's so light that you don't even feel that you have a helmet on your head, and it looks good too. So if it's the feeling of the helmet that you don't like, buy this helmet it rocks!
 
cant some helmets be better than others?...like if the 12mph thing is true...could a 200 dollar helmet be better than a 50 dollar helmet...when the protection comes into play
 
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