Mitch Haley writes:


Another example, somebody I knew: Elderly couple (~80 yrs) on
tandem. Dog took out front wheel. Fell over sideways, stoker pretty
much had her skull shattered, spent weeks in the hospital. Was
promoted as a "helmet saved a life" incident in the club we were in
at the time. The helmet was, IIRC, a Bell Tourlight. You simply
can't find anything as effective as that helmet marketed for road
cycling today. I can't see where it did her any noticeable good, a
fall without it would have broken her skull, as did a fall with it.

Since the injury was serious enough for her to spend weeks in the
hospital, it is believable that you wouldn't have to increase the
damage by very much for it to be fatal. So, the helmet could very
well have made a difference as to whether she survived, or at least
might have shortened her hospital stay. Just cutting a day off of her
stay in a hospital would probably more than pay for all the helmets
she would have bought over a lifetime.

Bill

--
My real name backwards: nemuaZ lliB