Some good discussions! And a paucity of personal attacks. Commendable on both
counts. John, if I had just sold off my own personal mega-million dollar
company like Bell, I might well go for a world cruise! Just a thought. Me,
I've gotta wait for the Super Lotto.
Full face helmets do indeed protect from the road, and that's why I changed to
using one while riding as well as auto-xing. I have no doubt that my face will
hurt if I end up landing on the pavement helmet-face-down. But it will
probably hurt me less than if I landed face-down. IMO, those shorty helmets
are for people with less to lose.
The front of the helmet does have some crushable material, IIRC, around the
chin bar. For what it's worth, I don't think there's much chance of hitting
something head-on hard enough while autocrossing to deploy the bag. Not zero
chance....I noticed that RX7 last week which spun out and stopped maybe 30-40
feet from a pole at Oakland. But a small chance. I'll accept it rather than
buy another helmet, if/until SCCA requires a change.
Airbags are a violent thing, but they're designed to distribute the violence
across your body better than the steering wheel and windshield. Ask anyone
who's been in a head-on with a three point belt - you end up bruised and
beaten! Again, it's better than the alternative.
re: spinning and hitting head - my car won't snap as fast as an MR2 ;-)
Rolled a car once. It was a four door, and I sit back far enough that my head
thwacked the B-pillar pretty good. Helmet would have helped, I suppose, as
would a side-curtain airbag.
Neither would have helped against the spinal compression from landing on the
ceiling. The belt isn't ever tight enough to stop someone who sits as close to
the roof as I do. But it kept me inside the vehicle and in place so that my
grip on the steering wheel kept my arms inside. So it may have saved my life
as well. Those people who died in SF last week when the idiot driver
cartwheeled the family SUV, they were not belted in. Off topic, but it never
fails to torque me off when someone ruins a family's lives with bad decisions.
The courts should order aggressive drivers to take up autocross. And people
should be required to take all of their really stoopid chances prior to
reproducing. Darwin says.
PaulT
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