Safety Gear vs. No Safety Gear: Debate here, so you don't clutter other threads.

[SoloRider]

I've got a lot to live for. I won't skate to the corner store without a helmet, I won't ride my bike without a helmet, and I've got a nice collection of dead helmets that are the reason that I'm still here today. No debate as far as I'm concerned.

[Tittyfish]

2 nights ago, I went over to my friend's house and met this cool guy who built his own boards. I had ridden mine there and he had his with him too, so we decided to hit up a hill. it's a 25mph hill with some insane curves. we go down twice without any problems, trying eachother's boards out. we have so much fun we go down a third time, and this time he decides to go first since he thought he had enough of a handle on the hill. as we round the final turn and hit the straightway at the bottom, he wipes out going at least 20mph. (I think it was more like 25 but I'm being safe). he hits the pavement, doesn't slide much but rolls horizontaly very violently. after I stop I sprint back up to him, yell, but no responce. he's barely breathing (sounds obstructed) and his face is a little bloody. I freak out and call 911 and then notice there's a pool of blood coming out from under his head with an ample amount ending up on my hands as I open his airway. ambulance gets there, and he's off.

our mutual friend goes with him to the hospital and I crash at my friends house because i'm too shocked/tired to go back home. my friend gets back at 5 am (6 hours later) and says that he has some sort of severe head injury, a broken nose, and either fluid in his lungs, a collapsed lung, or broken ribs.

the latest update is that he had 50% pressure on his brain (60% is lethal) and they just succesfully performed an emergency operation which involved cutting away half his skull to relieve the pressure. they sucked some fluid out of his lungs but he's still unconscious after 48 hours and in critical but stable condition.

NONE of this would have happened if he had been wearing his helmet. I wasn't wearing one either and I'm still freaking out that that could be me lying on a hosptial bed right now... or dead. I never thought it was worth it to wear helmets unless you're going crazy bombing (which he had done before) but from now on I won't be caught without one.

hopefully at least 1 person will read this and wear a helmet from now on.

[Matt C]

today my friend was just standing on his board, it shot out from under him, he hit his head and wasn't wearing his helmet. He could have gotten seriously injured. I think that this just shows that you should always have your helmet on, you don't have to be going fast to be lethaly injured.

I think that if you aren't wearing a helmet when you ride you should be ready to possibly die when you step on that board and a helmet could greatly reduce those chances as would all safety gear so it's not really a question of how cool you look or any other reason to not wear safety gear. You don't have to have a full body suit but at least put on your helmet it takes a few seconds to put it on and they're only a few dollars. It could be a life or death decision, and I know the odds of dying are really small but what if your part of that small percentage that does die. If you won't do it for yourself do it for those around you

- its a simple decision

[dragonmyntz]

i wear one cuz my mommy says i should.

(oh and also a helmet has literally saved my brain before, but thats not as important as the first reason =P)

[Rob Shook]

I don't think cool has anything to do with it. Look in the magazines or on TV. The majority of the Pros bombing hills or tearing up parks are wearing helmets. Those guys are cool to me.

don't deny the uncool factor of wearing a helmet. it is the NUMBER ONE reason not to wear one. It really isnt at all inconvenient, and it is the only reason people dont. to change things, we need to recognize why people dont wear them.

There is no real logic. Just like with smoking.
We just don't care if it is dangerous.
I feel a helmet looks bad and feels bad and is very impractical.

this isn't comparable to smoking. smoking gives you a nicotine high, making you feel good, and addicting you by releasing endorphins and other chemicals in large amounts. part of the decision to quit is taken away from smokers because of this.

There are no reasons not to wear a helmet, just like there are no reasons to smoke.
There is also no reason not to wear a helmet ever singel second of every single day.
But people like what is bad for then and that is the bottom line.
And no amount of helmet nazis will change that

We aren't helmet nazis, and we wouldnt be having this conversation in person if we were face to face because i'm not into that. i probably should refuse to skate with people who dont wear one, but i generally dont.

if one day you fell like any one of the many, many stories that people can give you, and you spent a year in the hospital relearning everything, you would wear a helmet if you decided to start skating again. at that point, starting to skate again would suddenly seem too risky. whats the difference between then and now? you have the opportunity to avoid that before it happens.

even though you keep saying it's not a decision, i would bet that it's the cool factor that's got you down. its an important decision, so weigh the coolness against the risk very very carefully every time before you go out - seriously you owe it to yourself.
and if it's really not a decision for you, make it one. helmets really arent inconvenient enough to take the risk of not wearing it.

sorry to bust your chops about it; people who do that normally bother me. but not making a decision about it gets to me. please, please just weight the pros and cons - if the feeling of the wind on your hair and being cool are enough to take the risk, so be it. just be honest with yourself and make the decision.

also check this video. the guy was literally going 10mph and he almost died. there wasn't anything any of us could have done better in that situation.

YouTube - Wear a Helmet

[NickMoran]

if u dont wear protective gear your a ###### idiot

obvious yes, but thats all i got to say

[motion]

yeah, i guess wearing a helmet or other pads doesnt "look cool". but when you fall with the protective gear on and come out unscathed from what should have been an devastating injury. it reaffirms your commitment to wearing gear.
besides, who wants to miss out on shredding because they have stitches or something?

[Loadedd]

There are no reasons not to wear a helmet, just like there are no reasons to smoke.
There is also no reason not to wear a helmet ever singel second of every singel day.
But people like what is bad for then and that is the bottom line.
And no amount of helmet nazis will change that

True. True. I wasn't saying you need to wear one alllllllllllllll the time. 8)

[SeanML]

Just for the sake of adding fuel to the fire, let's talk Darwinism. Natural selection. GO!!!

[pavedwave]

Fair enough if you don't want to wear a helmet but give a tiny thought about those around you. Not much fun if you mom has to look after you the rest of your life, should you be unlucky..........

exactly, if you do crash badly without a helmet, it's better for your family and friends that you just die outright. i know the logic of the "skate fast die fast" crowd, but there are no guarantees when it comes to planning your next wipeout. in fact, the human body is pretty resilient when it comes to simply surviving, brain or not.

but nobody wants to change your diapers, roll you over to avoid bedsores, and change your feeding tubes on a daily basis for the rest of your vegetative life.

most likely your 'friends' will disappear. if you don't have close family to wipe your ass, who knows what will happen. maybe a state institution?

looking cool has its price.

[kurdt]

i didnt bother to read the entire thread but heres my .02

not wearing safety gear is like drunk driving.

sometimes you get away with it and sometimes you dont, you get into accidents. Regardless of how fast your goin or how far your drive is, sh1t can still happen to you. So just be careful when doing it.

Hope it makes sense

[1ChanceToLive]

Well honestly i think you should always wear a helmet even if you are just cruising around. I mean I been riding for a little over a year and I just got a helmet. I was lucky enough to have only one bad fall where i smacked my head against the ground but I ended up not getting banged up to bad because of my rock like melon.

I know some people might think it is stupid to wear a helmet or safety gear and i am going to say keep thinking that way. I mean if you want to say you get much more of a rush with out gear on, more power to you. You will just wish you had it when you take that fall, It always happens sooner or later and no one can change that.

You also have to think about the image and example you are being to everyone that sees you riding. I mean what are they going to think of all of us if they always see someone doing dangerous things and being reckless. I mean sure you are having fun but there is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. I am not trying to be disrespectful but i think that if you do not have atleast some safety gear on you should not be riding.

[flannelman]

its not like we saying wear on of these.



i wont judge... but my sig will.

[KanoaSurf]

Wear a helmet when you skate, even if your mom doesn't make you. (wink wink)

[motion]

wearing my pads saved me some injuries today. im down with wearing them. it hurts when you dont. plus, if you get injured then you dont get to skate for a while which is a bummer.

[Alpha06]

helmet saved my life. period. That chunk in the helmet would have been a chunk of my skull/brain had I not wore one.

[loug]

hit a pot hole today, wrist protection in the backpack. good thing it was just a cruise, hit left palm hardest. took the wrist protection today, usually leave these things at home. should have worn them today

should always wear protection, if not to avoid injuries to show youngsters how its supposed to be done.

[toastlover14]

Now that I'm 25 I honestly could not give less of a #### what someone thinks of my wearing a helmet (in my experience, non-skater adults tend to think you're a lunatic if you don't wear one), but when I was 13 I wouldn't have been caught dead skating in a helmet because I was terrified someone would call me a ### or make fun of me. .

ya people make fun of and laugh at me all the time, its not usually that bad, i just say you try this and not want to wear a helmet, (usually im sliding) and most the time they just come up with some dumb comeback, and walk away/ollie away haha

but i almost always wear a helmet

[SheepGoToHeaven]

As a long time street skater, snowboarder and now a longboarder, Ive found that if you know how to fall, usually a helmet is not needed, but only in the case of low speed riding. whenever i go out and ride flat or even small slopes I only wear my slide gloves as i usually find my self landing hands first anyway. I ride an original so my style is very slidy and carvy in the first place but if bombing any kind of slope faster than 20 mph then i definitely would have atleast a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads.

[thaidiver]

I know it's a different situation, but this comes up frequently in motorcycle circles as well. My argument is that if a rider suffers a brain injury without a helmet, it raises insurance rates for everyone. The insurance company pays (if they don't already have a helmet policy), and they pass that on to the rest of us. Somewhere over in America (I think it's Florida) lets you ride sans helmet, but only if you have enough extra insurance to cover the damage.
Now, as I said, I know it's not the same with skating, but a brain injury from skating without a helmet makes the insurance company pay more, if you're lucky enough to have health insurance. If not, then the hospital and taxpayers pay more. Either way that cost gets passed on to everyone else, even the helmet wearers.
I have no problem with people engaging in risky behavior. I won't try to impress by listing all of my hobbies, but very few of them are even remotely considered "safe." However, I have lots of additional personal injury insurance in addition to the State Insurance. I also wear a helmet when engaging in these activities. Because of this, my injuries will be less severe, and much less cost will be passed onto the general public.