Look Twice Save a Life
 

Look Twice Save a Life

I have the best visual tool about helmet injuries that there is. Has anyone seen the purple bumper stickers that say "Look Twice Save a Life, Motorcycles Are Everywhere?" There is an interesting story behind those bumper stickers. They are done in memory of Lance Malone. He was killed on his motorcycle by a tow truck who turned left in front of him.

His mother used the life insurance money she got to have these made in hopes of getting people to look out for us. She started her own one-woman effort to distribute these. She went to all the bike shops in the Atlanta area with a small display that she made herself and asked them to please put them out. She came to our office one day, thinking we were also a bike shop, and asked us to do the same. She ended up spending several hours here talking to me, and telling me that she had felt so mislead.

I asked what she was talking about. She said she had been told that the best thing she could do to protect her son was to buy him the most expensive helmet she could find. She said that her and her husband and her other 2 sons all went in together to buy his helmet, which was a Nolan Full Face that cost over $400. Now she believed that was what had killed him. I asked her why she thought the helmet killed him. She said because he died from a broken neck.

She also said she was having trouble getting his autopsy report and his helmet. It just so happens that one of our members is the deputy medical examiner in the county where the autopsy was performed. I gave her the number to the medical examiners office and told her who to ask for since she should be able to have those things since she was his mother after all.
A few weeks later, she showed up at our office with a paper bag with Lance's helmet and a copy of his autopsy report. She said she couldn't look at them, but we could and she wanted us to. So we went and got a skull model. I use that helmet on almost a daily basis to show just exactly how a helmet can cause injury.

Basically, his fatal injury was the bottom portion of his skull was broken out, right where the spinal cord comes out of the skull. Lance had taken a hit on the chin bar just slightly left of center. This pushes the chin bar down, while at the same time forcing the chin strap up. It's just like what happens when you are hung. Once I put the skull model inside that helmet and cross the strap like it is when it's buckled, it's eerie how you can see exactly why this happens.

This is exactly why I think that it's wrong for the government to force me to wear a piece of equipment that I don't feel confident will protect me. I think the government has for too long only told the general public about the advantages of helmet use, while saying there are NO disadvantages. I think they should be giving us the advantages as well as the disadvantages so that we can make INFORMED choices about what, if any, headgear we wear.

Mrs. Malone has been a member of our organization ever since she came to our office that first day. She has testified for us in committee hearings. She has helped us in any way she can. If you would like to have some of the stickers to distribute, you can call her at 770-979-1763 or you can go to

http://groups.msn.com/looktwicesavealifemotorcyclesareeverywhere

I copied this message from another site...thought you guys might want to read it....
FBR :cool:

I guess I'll consider myself one of the lucky ones in that I have the choice on whether or not I wear a helmet, as Wisconsin has no helmet law. I usually don't wear one, but being in law enforcement for the last 8 years, I've seen several accidents involving motorcycles. Some of them may have lived if they had been wearing their helmets, some may have lived if they hadn't, and some it just didn't matter.

I just returned from a trip of 6 days on my bike in the Smoky Mountains with 11 other guys on our bikes. One of them was involved in an accident on Deal's Gap, also known as Dragon's Tail when a slower moving biker (not in our group) waved him on to pass in a hairpin curve. He lost control and was thrown from his bike. He dusted himself off, got back on his bike which moderate damage, but rideable and was able to drive the 1 1/2 hours back to our hotel. He then passed out and an ambulance was called. He was taken to the hospital and was found to have 2 hairline fractures of his pelvis. He also had a moderate dent in his helmet, which if he had not been wearing, I have no doubt in my mind thatd he'd have been injured MUCH worse, if not killed.

So, I guess in the end, I can't say whether wearing a helmet is better than not, but I do agree that it should be an individual's choice.

Just my .02,

Kenoshacop

interesting post. when people harp on me about wearing a helmet (i do on my sportbike for wind management, but i don't on the harley) i just ask them to think positively for me and not negatively and i also remind them that a major portion of motorcycle fatalities are from blunt trama to the torso not just the head. a helmet is not a guarantee and like this thread states, i like having the choice left to me.

Here in PA a bill just went through the Senate to make helmets optional for the 18+ crowd. Supposedly, the it has tremendous backing in the house and the Gov already said he'd sign it.

Even if it passes, I'll be wearing a helmet. I used to work on the PA Turnpike (aka PA Autobahn). I learned a lot the time I spent there, but I learned 1. Driving a bike on the turnpike is very dangerous 2. Helmets do save lives.

I can tell you all horror stories where a helmet wouldn't have mattered much (milk tanker vs. Gold Wing) but I also saw a lot of riders where helmets saved there lives. I support the bill that's going through, people should have a choice, but for me, I'll be wearing the helmet. I've had accidents, and all of those times a helmet has saved my head. Only one time was I not wearing a helmet.....which was on a dirtbike. I ultimately did a face plant on gravel, smashed my nose, and both ocular cavities.....had major recontructive surgery and still have the plastic nose (and deviated septum) to prove it.

Does that mean you snore like a mother? Cause if you do, I want to be prepared for Milwaukee. It's not a large apartment we are renting...

Actually my inner nostrils are widened out....you could drive a semi through the one side. I only snore when I'm really tired....and we know that only happens once in a while...RIGHT.

If I get drunk enough, this semi thing may come into play, so don't sleep too sound!!! :D :p

I have to add my .02 in here. I am an advocate of freedom of choice. Mainly, because I am old enough to understand consequences. Hech...they believe I can drink at the age of 21, why can't I decide if I am old enough to wear a seat belt or helmet? Back to the point...I haven't been in accidents in both sererios, with and without. The last accident I was in was without a helmet. The paramedics told me that had I been wearing a helmet, in all probability, I would have broken my neck! I was also involved in an accident that I was wearing a helmet and went over the hood of a car (classic left hand turn without looking). Had I not been wearing a helmet that time, who knows, but I feel I woulda been pretty messed-up. So my belief is unquestionably, When your number comes up, the button gets pushed and there ain't anything anyone is gonna do to change that. All we can do is be sensible adults (Like that's gonna happen in my life...LOL) and try to be careful.

Education for the general public is paramount, No question! The more they are aware of us...the better for us and them. But to have Big Brother standin there tellin us we are not capible of sound decision making is an insult to me.

Ride on Mongo...that's exactly the battle I am supporting...Freedom of Choice!

I will always wear a helmet (especially knowing I'll be on a sport bike) I know a friend who has had one of her friends decapitated because he was not wearing a helmet.. had he been wearing one it would have saved his head (a chain.. that's all ill say)