I got a helmet today. It looks pretty cool, silverish grey.
Anyway it’s supposed to be like single impact, shouldn’t use it after an accident, and I dropped it on concrete from about two metres(this girl hit me on the head while I was putting it on, sitting on my unicycle). So, does it mean I have to get a new one? Or is two metres unto concrete OK? Anyway, I don’t expect serious accidents(well, noone does I suppose). When I start grinding and stuff I’ll probly get a new one. But do you think it’s all right to wear it for now?
Helmets are labeled “single impact” because the helmet company doesn’t want to be held liable when you get hurt while wearing an old banged up helmet. It’s up to you, but I had a “single use” XC mountain bike style helmet that I wore for more than five years through many dings and accidents before it finally cracked in two. The plastic shell was even falling off, but the styrofoam remained solid until the final impact that broke it.
Cycle helmets are marked single impact for three reasons:
That way they avoid litigation when an old helmet fails after the nineteenth fall.
That way, they sell more helmets.
Impacts do damage helmets. Helmets are designed to absorby the energy of the impact by partly collapsing.
Taken to its logical conclusion, if you went downhill mountainbiking, you would have to carry a couple of carefully-wrapped spare helmets in case you fell off early in the ride.
If you drop an empty helmet, it will suffer less damage than if you fall the same distance when wearing it. The polystyrene inner won’t collapse as it decelerates your head.
Dropping it might damage the outer shell. A careful visual inspection should give you a clear idea.
Dropping it might crack the inner, but you’d have to be pretty unlucky. A careful visual inspection should give you a clear idea.
If you do have a fall, then a bad helmet is still better than no helmet.
My gut feeling is you shouldn’t worry. This is a case where common sense should overrule a literal interpretation of the manufacturer’s instructions on the label.
If you want to avoid injuries completely, sit on your backside watching TV until you develop a heart problem instead. In short, it is better to die than never to live.
off-topic again - did you ever have this thing when you start relying on safety signs too much and then when there isn’t one you kind of think that it’s OK to do something stupid. I really don’t know how to explain and can’t think of an example right now. But you sort of get this feeling in one part of you “dude, that’s just stupid and dangerous” and in the other one “well, there isn’t a safety precaution against it…”. Anyway I should probably just stop reading safety signs altogether, seeing they aren’t too helpful and start thinking for myself…
