Well that means the helmet would have been useful, no? Whether it’s a nice one or not, its sole purpose is to protect your head, which has way more value than a piece of plastic, however nice the plastic is.
I believe that you also questioned the statistics (or statistic or lack of statistics) five years ago in this thread. (Oops…I used the search function…bad me.) Back then there were zero recorded traffic-related unicycle fatalities. I spent a lot of time trying to find one and I arrogantly presented a challenge to others to find one. Nothing surfaced at that time and I still am convinced that you will find no other occurrences.
“Sgt. John Krueger on Wednesday said Farley was wearing black shorts, a backpack and a reflective vest, which was found nearby. Krueger says the unicycle had lights and was operating legally on a thoroughfare.”
Is it really so difficult to imagine the press only reporting “cyclist” ?
Back on topic, I wear a skate helmet, wrist guards, and a hydration pack with an extra layer of EVA foam. (I come off backwards more than I’d like to admit.)
When I read that story in 2014 I remember him being on a highway at night with no lights, no reflectors, and dark clothing. I would be an excellent eyewitness in a court case. Thanks for the clarification.
Yeah, I tend to wear my crappier helmet when unicycling, I forgot to mention that in my first post.
I would not try to compete with you in your search capabilities. Even when I wrote what you’re responding to, it did sound familiar. I don’t question your searching skills at all, but mean to suggest that unless unicycle gets mentioned in the reporting of the incident, it might be impossible to find.
But who wouldn’t mention it, even in a facts-only police report? It would certainly be notable, long as the unicycle was a factor in the incident (not just there in the background or something).
Did you search worldwide? Probably, but this limits it to places that would describe “unicycle” in English. If I were to try, I would have to spend some time trying to see if any of those had happened in Japan, which arguably has the highest population of unicyclists anywhere. But they are mostly elementary school kids, and I don’t want to go looking for examples of kids getting killed while riding unicycles. 
Logically, it should really be the number of accidents that you look at, not just fatalities, in case helmet use was actually preventing the fatalities. However, there don’t seem many of those either. The one that comes up when I google is the one in 2015 in London, where 100 witnesses joined together to lift a double decker London bus off a unicyclist. Interestingly, the report makes no mention of whether or not he was wearing a helmet. If it had been a bicyclist, I’m sure it would have been mentioned, given the censorious attitude to those who don’t. The fact that it was a unicycle is very central to the story - i don’t believe any newspaper would fail to mention ‘unicycle’ as an interesting tag. But I would expect unicycles to disappear in official statistics, simply because there would be no existing category for them in official forms, so they would simply become ‘cycling accidents’.
Bystanders casually stand by as unicyclist mauled by wild animals
http://syruptrap.ca/2015/04/bystanders-casually-look-aside-as-unicycle-commuter-killed-by-wild-animals/
I wonder if there are any stats on unicyclists mauled by wild animals in urban settings who were wearing helmets versus those who were not. And if so, are wild animals more attracted to unicyclists with skate helmets, commuter helmets or racing helmets? Hmm? I’ll have to do a little more searching. 
Let’s be safe, make good decisions and do whatever it takes to ride another day.
Be well and watch out for ‘lions, tigers and bears’…and wolves and cougars, too.
Wild animals clearly have the same special distrust of unicycles that some dogs seem to have. I met a Great Dane whose world appeared to have been rocked on its axis by the sight of my single wheel yesterday, despite being on a cycle path with bikes whizzing past every few minutes. It would seem to imply a better understanding of engineering than I would expect of a canine. The best style of helmet in those cases would be one with a built-in propellor. Or possibly lasers.
That’s the one I remember too. But since there is no official statistic, there may have been much more.
I support getting a good helmet. If you have to beg for nickles, shillings, lira, etc, it’s worth it. I’ve been riding for over 30 years, and I had my first head-on crash with a tree a few weeks ago (but admittedly, I’ve only been riding a muni for a little over a year). It was also the first time I’ve ever hit my head while unicycling.
I was on a part of the trail that wasn’t terribly challenging. I guess I hit a root or a rock and launched forward like a torpedo and hit a group of small trees. My head took most of the force, but later after getting home, my wife noticed my left shoulder was pretty banged up, but it didn’t hurt. I’m not sure why, but it was really funny, and I didn’t get hurt at all. If I hadn’t have been wearing the helmet, we would have been in the emergency room that day, or worse. I’ve never hit anything that hard with my head. Oddly, the only damage my helmet suffered was to the visor, which I was able to snap back into place with no permanent damage.
The helmet is a “Schwinn Codex Microshell Bicycle Helmet, Adult” available from Walmart and other stores. I bought it for $20, and it seems to be bulletproof. I hit the tree with the top of my head, and it didn’t crack, or even scratch the outer plastic shell, and there was no damage to the inside, either. Here’s the picture below from the Wal-Mart website. Mine is a different color, but it’s basically the same. As others have mentioned, this type of helmet doesn’t cover as much on the lower back of the head as a bmx style helmet may, at least not with the styrofoam, but there is a large, plastic thingy in the back for adjusting the helmet that does cover the lower back part of the head, which is better than nothing. For the price and comfort, it’s my helmet of choice.
What I really like about this helmet is that it’s cheap, tough, and it has holes all over it. Not only are they good for ventilation, but they’re also handy for mounting lights and cameras with small bungee chords.
Oddly enough, I saw another person hit their head on a unicycle a couple of weeks ago. We were having our bi-monthly unicycle club meeting at a park, and a random person came up and asked to ride one of our unicycles. He was an older gentleman that could actually ride, but he somehow managed to fall off of a 26" muni backwards and bang his head on a nearby rock wall. He was OK, but it was a close call, and it could have been really bad. The rocks on the wall are jagged, and it was just dumb luck that he hit a relatively smooth part. Maybe from now on, we should insist that people wear one of our helmets in a situation like that.
I’m pretty sure every helmet manufacturer would agree that any of their helmets should not be expected to protect the wearer from a bus crushing them.
I wish reporters would do the same for seatbelts when writing stories about motor vehicle accidents. Generally when you read about someone being “ejected” from the car, it wasn’t because they were in the passenger seat of James Bond’s DB5, it’s because they weren’t strapped in. This increases your likelihood of fatal injuries to 25 times as much as they would be if you remained inside the vehicle (based on statistics from the early 90s).
Wow, those Vancouverites are really, really jaded! Worse than New Yorkers!! Where’s Kris Holm when you need him? 
Absolutely. Ask yourself how much your brain is worth, then look at the price tags on helmets. It’s a “no brainer” if your unicycling involves really rough terrain, high speeds or mixing with traffic.
But you don’t even need a “good” helmet. Pretty much all cycling helmets on the market have been tested by one of the standards institutes that has standards for those products. For the most part, the $20 helmet from Walmart will offer the same amount of protection as the $199 helmet from the nice bike shop. The latter will probably look cooler though.
Clearly you got 100% of your money’s worth on that fine helmet. But it has served its purpose. That type of helmet is designed to deform on impact, to protect your skull. The structural foam is now compromised in the area where the impact took place. It’s probably cracked or compressed, or a combination of both. You should replace it.
Source for helmet info
Get a helmet with a sun visor as it helps block the sun and the rain
Please be aware if you faceplant there is a high potential the visor might lacerate your face. My wife received over forty facial stitches and two reconstructive surgeries from her visor.
Yes, I still ride with a visor,
JM
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I personally use this kind of dead angle little mirror that I scratch to my left wrist guard.
When I want to see if a bike or a car is approaching I just bring my hand closer and look at it.
It has a large field of view, so you immediately see everything that is just behind you, but you can not see very well what is far behind.
BMX Helmet
I always wear a BMX helmet. I’ve never had a crash where i hit my head, but the helmet has, on more than one occasion, saved me from injury due to low-hanging branches over the trail.
Whether I would have still hit my head on the branches had I not been wearing a clunky helmet is an open question.
A fair few of the people I ride with use BMX style. I suppose certain styles of unicycling are more like BMX than road cycling, so they get BMX lids.
Obviously I have zero evidence or anything whatsoever to back this up, but BMX lids also feel a hell of a lot more sturdy and solid so maybe they’d protect you better?