Here’s Safety Ed’s helmet. When he went down, he and his bike slid a fair distance down the road. There was a facesheild, but it absorbed the impact by breaking and breaking off.

Had he been wearing one of those “piss-pot” things, his face would have absorbed the impact.

He was wearing a full face helmet and from the location of the damage to the helmet he would have sustained damage to the L jaw and face if he had been wearing less.

On the other hand, I was lucky to be wearing a full face helmet because the chin piece hit the road very hard. If I had been wearing a open face helmet my jaw would have been pushed into my skull.

reverend wrote:I was leading, and I turned a blind curve. I kind of remember seeing the huge patches of sand covering our lane. I think I tried turning a little bit to make it through the one clear patch, and all of a sudden a felt a quick wobble of the scoot, had time to think, "F*ck, I'm going down", and then I hit the pavement. I remember my FULL-FACE helmet hitting the ground 3 times and I remember the jolt of my ribcage hitting the ground. I crawled and rolled out of the road into the ditch. I was trying to catch my breath, but couldn't.

I was having the most amazing and comforting dream.

Then all of a sudden I woke up and everyone was standing around me. Dannyw had called 911. I told him I was fine, and he hung up. Everyone told me that my eyes were open, but that I had a blank look on my face. And one of my hands was clenching in and out?

When I got home, I had a lengthy conversation with my brother who is a doctor. There were many words that I couldn't find, and I switched some words around a lot when I spoke. Couple that with an ex-girlfriend whose concussion after a car accident still effects her brain 6 years later, I went to get checked out. Pressure in my brain is fine, blood work was fine, just a concussion....The worst thing the doctor said was no alcohol for several weeks!!!

I don't want to start an openface/full face flame war, but I will say this: for my first three years all I owned was an open face. I love the wind in my face, and I love feeling like a part of the journey. When I got my GTS and started doing freeways, I bought a full face, but typically only wore it when I was taking freeway. If I hadn't had it today, my jaw would have been pretty bad, so I will say, I think today has changed the way I protect myself. It can truly happen when least expected.

mangajunky wrote:Bump - I'd like to encourage more people to purchase a full-face helmet.

Brouhaha wrote:

http://thescooterscoop.blogspot.com/200 ... -face.html

BlueSmokeScott wrote:Sunday night February 15, 2009 around 7:30 pm

I had just spoken to my wife on the phone and we decided we were both pretty hungry so I told her I could pick up Dinner. The last thing I really remember was crossing the road and starting up that hill. Next thing I knew, I was being pulled off an ambulance and taken into hospital ER. I was scraped up off of the road.

I was knocked out for a good 15 minutes...

Whoever hit me/I hit did not stick around to see if I was ok (so, I'm told) they fled the scene. I really have no recollection of what happened and haven't yet spoken to the Police officer that was the first on the scene. So, I don't really feel comfortable speculating as to what may have happened.

I will say this emphatically. Had I not been wearing full gear with a full faced helmet, I would still be in the ER or more than likely, in the morgue. My gear saved me completely.

*YES, I HAD A HELMET ON* Stacked my Vespa on Nov 27 2007. Hit a stopped car at around 80kmh (50mph), facebutted the dash, flipped and went through the rear windscreen face first. She'd stopped in a lane with a no-stopping restriction while I was behind her changing lanes with my head turned. It was hot that day so I left my full-faced helmet at home and wore the open face helmet with jeans and a shirt. Oops! Only spent two days in hospital after the doctors told me I would be there for up to 6 months. Was due to fly to the US on the 29th but put it back until Dec 17 which with hindsight was a little too early to go. Finished up with 4 full-thickness tears to the face with my bottom lip almost torn completely off, very deep puncture wound on my hand from brake lever, two very black eyes (lucky I had my sunnies on), glass and gravel all through my face which had to be picked and then sandpapered out, bleeding on the frontal and left temporal lobes of the brain, severe cuts and abrasions to both legs, teeth were forced back into head and very crudely wired back into the wrong spots (the guy who cut out the wire said it's the most brutal thing he's ever seen), a large hole above the right collarbone from the mirror stem, severe shoulder + elbow damage to both sides and a fair headache.
Much better now, I can almost feel my face.