A motorcycle helmet is a type of protective headgear used by motorcycle riders. The primary goal of a motorcycle helmet is motorcycle safety - to protect the rider's head during impact, thus preventing or reducing head injury or saving the rider's life. Some helmets provide additional conveniences, such as ventilation, face shields, ear protection, intercom etc.
Motorcyclists are at high risk in traffic crashes. A 2008 systematic review examined studies on motorcycle riders who had crashed and looked at helmet use as an intervention. The review concluded that helmets reduce the risk of head injury by around 69% and death by around 42%. Although it was once speculated that wearing a motorcycle helmet increased neck and spinal injuries in a crash, recent evidence has shown the opposite to be the case, that helmets protect against cervical spine injury, and that an often-cited small study dating to the mid 1980s, "used flawed statistical reasoning".
Read more about Motorcycle Helmet: Origins, Basic Types, Conflicting Findings On Color Visibility, Construction, Function, Laws and Standards, Standards Testing
Famous quotes containing the words motorcycle and/or helmet:
“Actually being married seemed so crowded with unspoken rules and odd secrets and unfathomable responsibilities that it had no more occurred to her to imagine being married herself than it had to imagine driving a motorcycle or having a job. She had, however, thought about being a bride, which had more to do with being the center of attention and looking inexplicably, temporarily beautiful than it did with sharing a double bed with someone with hairy legs and a drawer full of boxer shorts.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“It’s very hot,
And weighs a lot,
As many a guardsman knows,
So off that helmet goes.”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)