http://www.dumpalink.com/media/1132655107/Trial_Bike_Accident
youch, that looks like it hurt.
of course, its on a motorbike, in what is probably a Pro competition.
that probably made it more dangerous.
but MUni, and probably even some street/trials, can definitely be just as lethal.
What debate? If you think you have something worth preserving, then wear a helmet. If not, then don’t bother. 
Well summed up.
I can’t access the original link.
Is it a pic or an article?
That could have been really nasty without a helmet. 
It’s a WMV video with multiple replays from different angles of the accident. And he was doing quite well untill he fell.
Well said.
Cathy
Ive never fallen on my head, i dont think its easy to do so on a unicycle either
I agree it’s not easy to do on a unicycle but when you come off… 
(apart from tall people maybe, but I wouldn’t know 'cause I’m not)
I’ve only hit my head once whilst unicycling – playing gladiators at BUC 12 – and it bloody hurt, literally bloody. I landed on my back first, which I’ve done a few times, but this time my head carried on and hit the floor.
Even after that happening I’ll probably still only wear one while road or Muni riding (I don’t do trials). It’s a risk analysis thing I suppose.
After hitting my head I wonder if I’ve lost more brain cells than I think I have. How would I know? What am I talking about now? Maybe I’ve hit my head more times than I remember, but how would I know? … 
Most accidents occur around the home, but I bet you don’t wear a helmet when walking downstairs or faffing in the kitchen. Are you saying you’ve only got something worth preserving some of the time?
Phil
it would be nice if I could find a nice helmet that actually looks cool. Any advice people. Aside from “Safety is always cool”
but safety is always cool,
skate helmets are cool, especially mine, it has speakers near the ears to plug in a music device of your choice, i got it a dunhams for ten junior bacon cheesburgers.
and also has anybody ever seen this picture where in the background there is this guy crashing against a bike pole
thatdoes sound cool, and only $10?
No, but the fact that most accidents occur around the home (if that’s true, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is) is probably due to the fact that most people spend far more time at home than they do outside participating in active sports which entail a substantial amount of falling around hard surfaces.
The whole risk-analysis thing is always a numbers game. You have 1000 people walking around their houses changing lightbulbs and cleaning the rain gutters and climbing on ladders, and twenty of them fall down and two of them hit their heads. Out of the same population you have three unicyclists (and I think that three out of a thousand people riding unicycles is very generous), and during the course of a week two of them fall and one of them hits his head. You can certainly say that “most” of those accidents happened around the home, and even that “most” of the head injuries occured during non-sporting activities. But look at the percentages: 2% and 0.2% for accidents around the house, and 67% and 33% for accidents during sporting activities. You can even look at “Defect”: there were a handful of riders, and one of them broke both of his feet during the filming.
The numbers in that example aren’t based on any actual statistics I’ve read, I have no idea what the accident and head injury rates are for unicycling. It just seems like common sense to me that while most accidents may occur around the home, that really doesn’t have any bearing on the merits of wearing a helmet while unicycling.
Unless you live in a jurisdiction where helmets are mandatory – here in California, I believe that helmets while motorcycling are mandatory, but I don’t think they’re manadatory for non-motorized cycling, though I’m not sure – it’s your choice. For my part, I’ll be wearing a helmet while I’m participating in a sport where my head is six feet off the ground and there’s a lot of falling involved – where falling, in fact, has been virtually guaranteed every time I’ve gotten in the saddle during my learning period. When I figure out how to faff in my kitchen, I’ll decide on whether or not to wear a helmet while I’m doing it.
Rich
I see you are only 20 years old. How many times do you think you might hit your head if you keep riding for the next 20 years? How many head hits is a good amount?
I have not hit my head very often over the years, but it has happened. There have been one or two occasions where I know the helmet saved me from a minimum of a much more painful experience.
This does not mean one must wear a helmet for all forms of unicycling. I don’t wear one indoors (where I once cut my head open on a switch-plate when playing hockey). But I do wear one whenever I ride trails, or when I ride with traffic. And racing too.
Question for the designers of that motorcycle Trials course. Why put the hardest part at the top? Sure it makes for better entertainment, but it sure seems like there are more ways to fall all the way off that thing than there are to catch yourself. If you watch the video closely, you may also agree that it suggests a helmet may be recommended for cameramen as well. 
Where can you get that helmet?
i always wear my helmut when i ride trials. you never kno what could happen.
I don’t like it (I have a pretty uncomfortable helmet), but the alternative is much worse.
I used to skate, and one time I messed up ollieing, and landed on my face (still not 100 % sure how that happened) but i had a huge scrape on my face, and I saw stars when i got up…and that was with a helmet, and a good one…I always wear a helmet when unicycling, because
- I’m not stupid or reckless
- Being a vegetable would suck
I’ve been riding my uni for many fewer years than Trev, and I’ve hit my head dozens of times, always while wearing a helmet. It depends how hard you try, if you push yourself beyond your limits a lot you’re bound to end up hitting an extremity like your head, if not on the floor directly then on the edge of a wall, on a rail or (in one case) an open window frame. I never ride ‘extremely’ without it, and I only ever fail to wear it on 2 occasions; Riding my 20" on road/pavement for less than 5 min trips and indoor freestyle work, and even then i’m careful. I always, without fail, wear my KH Gloves with the wrist wraps, and when I wear my helmet I invariably wear my 661 knee/shin pads.
I’m not evangelising about this, cos it annoys me when people do that, and cos every person can place a value on their own safety and I’m not ever going to tell someone ‘You must wear a helmet’, even when its obvious they should be (unless they are putting me in danger by not wearing one, e.g. I’m in charge of an event and they are placing my insurance at risk). Just think about what you’re going to be doing, what the risks are, and how it might affect you if you were to have an accident.
It didn’t take me long (a few weeks) to realise that trials means danger which means I need a helmet. Since then i’ve gotten used to wearing it, and now whenever I think unicycling, I think about wearing my helmet. I’d rather be in the position of feeling funny about not wearing it, than feeling funny about wearing one. Oh, and to all the people who think wearing a helmet isn’t cool… you’re riding a unicycle 
.
Loose
To my mind, that’s the entire helmet debate right there.
amen to that, GILD