You Still Don't Want to Wear a Helmet??

Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress whose career melded
glamorous celebrity with the bloodline of theater royalty, died Wednesday at
Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. She had suffered head injuries in a skiing
accident Monday north of Montreal, and was flown to New York on Tuesday. She
was 45 and lived in Manhattan and in Millbrook, N.Y.

Ms. Richardson, who was not wearing a helmet, had fallen during a beginner's
skiing lesson, a resort spokeswoman, Lyne Lortie, said Tuesday. "It was a
normal fall; she didn't hit anyone or anything," Ms. Lortie said. "She didn't
show any signs of injury. She was talking and she seemed all right."

Dien Cai Dau wrote:
::
:: Ms. Richardson, who was not wearing a helmet, had fallen during a
:: beginner's skiing lesson, a resort spokeswoman, Lyne Lortie, said
:: Tuesday. "It was a normal fall; she didn't hit anyone or anything,"
:: Ms. Lortie said. "She didn't show any signs of injury. She was
:: talking and she seemed all right."

This is not a good example of why a person should wear a helmet. I heard a
report by a neurosurgeon on Ms. Richardson's accident and he said her fall
resulted in a twisting of the brain inside of her skull. The result was
damage to the frontal cortex. And, when asked if a helmet would have made a
difference, he said, "probably not" because this was a twisting type of
blow. He also said that it is not uncommon for a person in this situation to
not feel a lot of pain until several moments later as the blood was leaking
slowly.

Pat

On Mar 20, 2:18*pm, "Dien Cai Dau" wrote:
Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress whose career melded
glamorous celebrity with the bloodline of theater royalty, died Wednesday at
Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. She had suffered head injuries in a skiing
accident Monday north of Montreal, and was flown to New York on Tuesday. She
was 45 and lived in Manhattan and in Millbrook, N.Y.

Ms. Richardson, who was not wearing a helmet, had fallen during a beginner's
skiing lesson, a resort spokeswoman, Lyne Lortie, said Tuesday. "It was a
normal fall; she didn't hit anyone or anything," Ms. Lortie said. "She didn't
show any signs of injury. She was talking and she seemed all right."

Here's one reason NOT to wear a ski helmet. From
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29772691/ :

"The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) of the United States
estimated 43 percent of skiers and snowboarders wore helmets in the
2007-08 season, against 25 percent five years earlier. ...

"The increase in the use of helmets has not reduced the overall number
of skiing fatalities," the NSAA said in a statement. "More than half
of the people involved in fatal accidents last season were wearing
helmets."

So more than half the fatalities were in helmets. But fewer than half
wear them. IOW, helmet use is _positively_ correlated with fatality.

Now if you want to attack head injury fatalities, why not propose
helmets for motorists? Both skiers and bicyclists are a minuscule
percentage of the head injury fatalities in America. But motorists
are roughly 50%. That's despite seat belts and air bags.

Dien Cai Dau - you still don't want to wear a helmet inside your
car?

- Frank Krygowski

On Mar 20, 1:18*pm, "Dien Cai Dau" wrote:
Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress whose career melded
glamorous celebrity with the bloodline of theater royalty, died Wednesday at
Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. She had suffered head injuries in a skiing
accident Monday north of Montreal, and was flown to New York on Tuesday. She
was 45 and lived in Manhattan and in Millbrook, N.Y.

Ms. Richardson, who was not wearing a helmet, had fallen during a beginner's
skiing lesson, a resort spokeswoman, Lyne Lortie, said Tuesday. "It was a
normal fall; she didn't hit anyone or anything," Ms. Lortie said. "She didn't
show any signs of injury. She was talking and she seemed all right."

How does this statistically make wearing a helmet on a bunny slope
justifiable? Show me the trend of bunny slope deaths.

You won't be able to, because your double question mark question is
based on hysteria and fear, rather than real risk.

In article ,
"Dien Cai Dau" writes:
Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress whose career melded
glamorous celebrity with the bloodline of theater royalty, died Wednesday at
Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. She had suffered head injuries in a skiing
accident Monday north of Montreal, and was flown to New York on Tuesday. She
was 45 and lived in Manhattan and in Millbrook, N.Y.

Ms. Richardson, who was not wearing a helmet, had fallen during a beginner's
skiing lesson, a resort spokeswoman, Lyne Lortie, said Tuesday. "It was a
normal fall; she didn't hit anyone or anything," Ms. Lortie said. "She didn't
show any signs of injury. She was talking and she seemed all right."

I'm saddened to see her go.

She was such a nice person, and a truly talented actor
who gave her all to her audiences: maybe partly in the
Redgrave dynastical tradition, and maybe mostly out of
plain ol' love.

She certainly does not deserve to become some "poster
example" for a political cause.

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

On Mar 20, 1:18*pm, "Dien Cai Dau" wrote:
Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress ...

Was this alpine or nordic skiing?
One is an extreme sport and the other rather pedestrian.

It seems unlikely that a helmet would have prevented this particular
injury for this particular celebrity. But even if we suspend that
reality and acquiesce that it is indeed prudent to wear a helmet when
slaloming down the side of a mountain, it wouldn't automatically
justify the use of a helmet when shuffling along like a normal person
who is not pretending that they are on ABC's wide world of sports.

On Mar 26, 1:16*pm, DennisTheBald wrote:
On Mar 20, 1:18*pm, "Dien Cai Dau" wrote:

Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress ...

Was this alpine or nordic skiing?
One is an extreme sport and the other rather pedestrian.


Bunny slope, very low speed fall. If we were to take this as an
example of where in life helmets are needed--we'd have to start with
wearing them in our cars, in the shower, and while climbing stairs.

On Mar 26, 2:40*pm, landotter wrote:
On Mar 26, 1:16*pm, DennisTheBald wrote:

On Mar 20, 1:18*pm, "Dien Cai Dau" wrote:

Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress ...

Was this alpine or nordic skiing?
One is an extreme sport and the other rather pedestrian.

Bunny slope, very low speed fall.

Yes. IOW, she was probably going as fast as nordic skiers do.

If we were to take this as an
example of where in life helmets are needed--we'd have to start with
wearing them in our cars, in the shower, and while climbing stairs.

Why do the handwringers ignore all the thousands of head injury
fatalities with those causes?

- Frank Krygowski

On Mar 26, 2:59*pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Mar 26, 2:40*pm, landotter wrote:

On Mar 26, 1:16*pm, DennisTheBald wrote:

On Mar 20, 1:18*pm, "Dien Cai Dau" wrote:

Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress ...

Was this alpine or nordic skiing?
One is an extreme sport and the other rather pedestrian.

Bunny slope, very low speed fall.

Yes. *IOW, she was probably going as fast as nordic skiers do.

If we were to take this as an
example of where in life helmets are needed--we'd have to start with
wearing them in our cars, in the shower, and while climbing stairs.

Why do the handwringers ignore all the thousands of head injury
fatalities with those causes?


Concern trolls love drama.

On Mar 26, 11:40*am, landotter wrote:
On Mar 26, 1:16*pm, DennisTheBald wrote:

On Mar 20, 1:18*pm, "Dien Cai Dau" wrote:

Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress ...

Was this alpine or nordic skiing?
One is an extreme sport and the other rather pedestrian.

Bunny slope, very low speed fall. If we were to take this as an
example of where in life helmets are needed--we'd have to start with
wearing them in our cars, in the shower, and while climbing stairs.

Helmets are designed to protect a rider's head in a direct 14mph
impact. This just happens to be the speed a object reaches when it is
dropped from about 6 feet. In other words, the helmet is designed to
protect a rider from just falling off and hitting the head on the
pavement. A bit of vector mechanics shows that in such a simple fall,
the forward velocity does not contribute to magnitude of the impact
unless one contacts an obstacle while scrubbing off horizontal
velocity.

Helmets are clearly not the ultimate answer to cycling safety, ie
"sell 'em a bike, sell 'em a helmet and I don't have to worry." "He's
wearing a helmet so he's safe." No, it doesn't work that way. Safe
cycling practices begin with understanding, awareness, and
preparedness.

But a helmet definitely can protect one's head in a simple fall.
Since falling off a bicycle is rarely a simple thing, it can happen
quite quickly, a rider can get tangled up with a bicycle and often has
no control over the fall, wearing a helmet provides a bit of added
insurance in the instance of an untimely get off.

On the list of things a cyclist can do to help avoid injury, I place
wearing a helmet somewhere above wearing gloves and somewhere below
making sure one has sturdy, responsive, reliable brakes.

Jon