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

[gavmck]

I was dorking around trying out Bluntslide 180s on a mellow hill the other day. Messed one up randomly and fell and cracked the back of my head real hard. Probably the harshest I've hit my head in the almost 10 years of skating. I had a helmet on so I carried on about my day rather than being in hospital, it was RAD.

My gfs lil 5 year old cousin does not like to wear a helmet when he scoots and bikes. Having seen me and my buddies wearing helmets and tearing it up on our skateboards being awesome, he is wearing a helmet because he thinks it's cool now. Now that is RAD.

[GrassDiver]

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.

I agree with this statement, however, I found myself going for a mild cruise and end up bombing hills anyway - without my helmet. Now I just wear it all the time, so I develop a habit, then its always there and I don't have to even think about whether to wear it.

Regarding wrist gaurds, my wrists are so F'd from park skating, I guess I still haven't learned how to fall correctly. I don't see how those pros fall all the time and still have use of their wrists. Now I wear full pads when pushing limits in the park, I have taken way too many hits without them - I think I have enough malformed bones for the moment.

[thumper07]

I've been riding motorcyles my whole life, racing them too.

I always wear a helmet when I ride. In fact, I think I had a helmet on when I was born

About 4 years ago, I rode to meet my family for dinner.

For some reason, I decided that I wasn't going to wear a helmet because it was only a few blocks away.

As a result of not wearing a helmet, this is what happened.

When I crashed, my face came down and impacted my gas tank and then hit a tree.

I lost my job and nearly my house. Then, almost commited suicide.

All that because I didn't ware a helmet.

If people call me a pussy for wearing a helmet now, it instantly breaks out into a bloody death brawl. I don't waste my time calling people names and sticking my chest out.

[dkeller33]

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.

I heard a story regarding an accomplished longboarder from Australia who had a fluke accident with no helmet, going slow, hit his head, and killed himself.

People, please????? Wear your helmet!!!!!!!

It's just a matter of time, looking at the rapid growth of our sport, that municipalities are going to start passing laws if people start getting seriously injured (or dead) on a regular basis. Don't be stupid, love your sport, love yourself, do what's right for both, and WEAR YOUR DAMN HELMET!!!!!

[B77]

Personally whenever I'm on my board just around town
it's always with helmet on never without it,anything else
d/h etc pads and gloves all the way.I learned a good lesson
about 3 months ago I was doing some d/h and a van overtook
me and just stopped i bailed at about 25 mph came
down on my elbow (i had forgotten my elbow pads) lost a lot
of skin and damaged the bone and destroyed my favourite tattoo.
So pad up boys n girls it may not look that
hot but neither is drinking through a straw for the rest
of your life


P.S. French drivers are assholes all the time every time

[toastlover14]

ok this just happened about ten minutes ago.. i was feeling pretty confident in my toeside pendy and slow speeds, so i decided to walk up the road where i would get 5-10 mph faster, rigght when i started crouching down i saw a car about to come in the other lane, i decided to just try it even tho i was worried i would mess up, i put my hands on the ground, to shave some speed off, then went into push up position, but i failed.
Basically i only kicked my right foot out, cant really explain what happened next, maybe it shut down fast or maybe it went 180, all i know was that i got flung backward and smacked my head. HARD. it made me dizzy for at least 30 seconds, thank god a had my helmet, it could have been a lot worse. its still hurts when i walk.

Wear your helmets please

[jesboogie]

Adults who don't wear a helmet when riding or rolling are just plain dumb. I have way too much to lose not to.

jesse d
no one determines my coolness for me

[thumper07]

Agreed!

I had a great saturday learning to slide my new Madrid Drop. I've never even ridden a drop, let alone slide one.

Although victorious in the end, I seriously messed my elbows up while learning.

My helmet saved my head and my gloves (which were needed anyway) saved my palms. But, I didn't have any elbow pads on and my elbows took a massive beating.

Us old farts don't heal up like we used to. We can still do just as much (well, almost), but we have to be more careful.

Welcome to the forum Boogie.

[loug]

its a pain in the ass wearing a helmet. maybe if we don' t wear one we wont have to worry about feeling that there pain in the ass? i'm guilty, if just out for a cruise, no helmet. but there are stories about experienced skaters who are snuffed while just out for a cruise.

[pavedwave]

having the bus schedule pretty much dialed, I was a little late to work and dashed out of the house yesterday morning and sped down the first big hill toward the bus stop. i freaked out for just a second -- thought I'd forgotten to put on my helmet -- actually had to put my hand on my head to know it was already there. it goes on automatically, like second skin, and I hardly notice it.

the thing about cross-city commutes, people always think its flatland-mellow and maybe 80% of the time it is, but there are always 1. other people / cars to throw you off course 2. gravel, and other crap (sometimes literally crap) that'll pitch you and 3. "short" downhill blasts most of us wouldn't even think twice about skating without a lid.

[thumper07]

Most of my accidents have happened just pushing along at slower speeds. The board hits a patch of sand or something else that just screeches it to a halt and I go flying off the front. Unexpected incidents are much worse than those that can be prepared for.

[Bwave]

I am pro-helmet definatly, and even I don't wear helmets.

I think there needs to be a middle side an argument that aren't on opposite sides of the spectrum.

Yes a helmet can save your life, but seriously? your commuting uphill, carrying your board for 3 miles... pretty much walking..

Yes a helmet may be "uncool" but why chance it?

Sure not wearing a helmet can kill you, but seriously.... death? wow pretty extreme

Sure it is hot and itchy, can't you buy one that isnt?

There needs to be a balance to this..
I mean, seriously why is not wearing a helmet always going to lead to death!? My friend has fallen 6 times and been unscathed neck up.
And wow, every time you wear a helmet are you going to be embaressed at school and become this itchy hair head kid? My friend wears his helmet alot.. he hasn't really complained cause he bought a confortable one.

All I know is.. There isn't going to be a definate answer whether or not to wear one. If you truly care more about how you look than if you're alive or not... I'm pretty sure you're life isn't worth living.

Wear a helmet, or Don't. But who cares?

[thumper07]

Uh, you have no idea how many people have actually died from skateboarding at 15 miles per hour.

Just last week, a kid was taken away in an ambulance for falling and smashing his head. He was unconscious. Cops and homeowners wont let anyone skate that road anymore.

People who don't wear helmets, crash and go to the hospital don't only ruin it for themselves....they ruin it for EVERYBODY.

So, to protect myself and the greater interest of the public as a whole, I will bash any kid in the head that I see riding in places I love without a helmet.

So, if the road doesn't kill him...I will.

How's that?

[urbs]

Life vs death: Debate here, so you don't clutter other threads.

[GrassDiver]

I wear a helmet no matter what the speed, I consider my daily / weekly neighborhood sidewalk surfing sessions plenty fast and sketchy enough to warrant a lid. Then, my newby sessions on ramps and parks result in crashes o plenty. Once you commit to a helmet always policy, it kinda becomes a part of you - kinda like a dog who likes wearing his collar, you get used to it.

[vking]

i dont know why people still think about this...

[pavedwave]

death is sad, but what's worse is being half, quarter, eighth, or sixteenth-dead. brain dead, vegetative, poopy diaper, with family wiping your ass the rest of your life, and you can't even kill yourself to save everyone else the trouble for the rest of their lives.

another consequence is just being a little "whacked" from being concussed one too many times. people get constantly irritable, lose focus, lose jobs, lose friends, family -- and wonder why. there's a lot of brain injury that goes on and even more subtle, quiet consequences but since its one of those things we can't see outwardly / visibly it all gets chalked up to "personality" problems -- not medical problems. insurance companies are well aware of this.

[toastlover14]

So, if the road doesn't kill him...I will.

new sig, and i agree

[thumper07]

+ rep on that one! After my serious motorcycle accident, without a helmet, I had a very severe frontal lobe injury that caused me to be terminated from a company I was at for 10 years due to massive and sudden personality problems. I lost my ability to reason without loosing my temper. The doctors thought I'd never be rid of this because the brain is a virtually unknown territory.

Although I finally came around and am pretty normal again, I still find that I've lost about 20% of my short term memory.

Exactly like that movie 50 First Dates when Drew Barrymore couldn't remember anything the next day. I was exactly the same way and suffered a frontal lobe injury similar to the one she did in that movie.

It's life changing and it's nearly permanent.

[Crosscurrent]

Current research has found that the human brain is not fully developed until as late as the age of 26. This explains much our behavior in our teens and early twenties, and why so many don't see the logic of helmets and other safety gear. Sometimes, ya just have to trust the data, and stop rationalizing, with the mentality of: "It can't happen to me." I could care less whether someone wears pads. (I wear 'em, 'cause it takes longer to heal in my 40s), but Save The Melon! I have had 2 close friends that have suffered a TBI. (It means TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY, not "Temporary Brain Injury", by the way.) One is lucky to be alive and the other might not be considered so lucky. At last news, she was in a nursing home at the age of 26. I'll step down off my soapbox. My helmet: a Bern G w/closing vents. Fire Engine Yellow. Every time I skate.