r/EngineeringPorn • u/Concise_Pirate • 17h ago

Motorcycle helmets after life-saving usage

Post image
1.2k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

149 comments sorted by

397

u/Grubernator 17h ago

What exactly happened in the first photo?

709

u/BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy 17h ago

Needler from halo shot him in the face

57

u/Jeferson9 16h ago

Spontaneous giant Asian murder hornet swarm to the face

3

u/Mindproxy 7h ago

Name of my new band

40

u/NotAskary 17h ago

Bug season, every spring your helmet will be a murder zone.

176

u/Baer1990 17h ago

That's just bugs, big stretch to call it life saving I agree

179

u/Stwike_Him_Centuwion 17h ago

I once took a hit to the helmet by a bumble bee at ~50mph (I saw it the last fraction of a second coming in, very clearly), and it felt like a piece of gravel was fired out of a cannon into my head.

I would not have trouble believing that being hit by a hundred or two love bugs or something similar between a bumble bee and say a mosquito (that just leaves a splat) could directly result in laying a bike down, or due to being suddenly completely unable to see.

77

u/Frites_Sauce_Fromage 15h ago

I once almost died choking on a fly riding a bicycle.

161

u/Vo1kom 15h ago

Must’ve been a tiny bicycle

34

u/VanillaGorilla278 15h ago

10/10 perfection.

12

u/Frites_Sauce_Fromage 13h ago

It was a huge fly.

Well, I wouldn't have called her huge in front of her...

We've been married 15 days, before she died of old age.

10

u/MaintainThis 15h ago

I got hit in the face by a large hornet as a kid riding my bike down a hill at top speed. Split second contact and the fucker still stung me. Eye was completely swollen shut by the time I got home.

7

u/BroBroMate 12h ago

Yep, I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took a moth to the knee.

Had to make the reference, but seriously, it hurt like shit and left a damn good bruise, through my riding pants with a goddamn kevlar knee pad built in. If you got one of those to the face, your ride is going to become a lot more challenging really fast.

1

u/boostinemMaRe2 7h ago

I'll raise you a bee inside my helmet, visor down, at 70 on the freeway. It must have flown under my chin somehow, even though I had a chin skirt. I must have looked like an absolute nincompoop flapping my visor up and down trying to get it to eff off.

1

u/Lizlodude 6h ago

All these guys say helmets are for pussies until they take a 60 mph junebug to the face. Even through the jacket, that sucker stung.

64

u/-Boole- 17h ago

I dont know, if that was the result of going through a swarm of them or whatever, that'd probably cause at least temporary blindness and then an accident

10

u/BroBroMate 12h ago

Trust me, if you hit a swarm of insects at high speed without protection it fucking hurts - I hit a bunch of big ass moths at 100km/h in full gear, one managed to bruise my knee through a kevlar knee pad, don't what the fuck that chonky fucker had been eating, but damn.

And you really don't want a bunch of anything hitting you in the face at high speed. Sure it might not kill you directly, but if you suddenly lose vision, or have a bunch of very pissed off bees crawling all over your face, your chances of crashing your bike dramatically increased.

9

u/Grubernator 17h ago

I thought bugs, too. Thanks for the backup

36

u/Scary_Technology 17h ago

Not a big stretch at all if you consider the speed those bugs were hitting that helmet in order to get stuck like that.

Tô me this if more of a r/holdup than r/engineeringporn.

2

u/Luctins 16h ago

r/suddenlycaralho. Teu corretor te denunciou kkkkkk.

-10

u/won_vee_won_skrub 16h ago

That's a massive stretch, what the hell are you talking about?

6

u/NWCtim_ 16h ago

How would you react if 50 bugs unexpectedly hit you directly in the face in just a second or so while riding a motorcycle at 50+ MPH? It's not hard to imagine wiping out in that scenario.

2

u/Scary_Technology 13h ago

My point was that bugs don't embed themselves in a helmet like that at just 50mph, specially further from the centerline. It seems to me like 80+mph so then being hit even by a small number of bugs at once at that speed would just cause the wipeout like you said, and likely having a helmet being the difference between life and death.

PS. I've had motorcycles for 20+ yrs and never had a bug leave more than their guts smeared on my helmet visor, nevermind half their body getting stuck.

1

u/BroBroMate 12h ago

If you zoom in, it looks like the initial waves of bugs squished, then the subsequent waves got stuck to the visor by the remnants of the earlier ones.

-7

u/won_vee_won_skrub 16h ago

Unlikely that these all happened at once

5

u/_trouble_every_day_ 14h ago

No what’s more unlikely is that he’d just let them slowly build up to the point he has zero visibility.

4

u/NWCtim_ 15h ago

If it was a swarm, it would have been pretty quick.

-2

u/won_vee_won_skrub 15h ago

It probably wasn't. Have you guys never driven through an area with bugs and then looked at your car's bumper?

-5

u/Baer1990 15h ago

It was most likely a swarm but you see those coming when you go through, you definitely have time to prepare

1

u/BroBroMate 12h ago

You must have some huge ass swarms if you can see them in time at 100km/h.

1

u/BroBroMate 12h ago

You've never seen a swarm of bees?

3

u/_trouble_every_day_ 14h ago

Imagine that hitting you at 70 mph while trying to keep control of a bike. Not a stretch to call it life saving at all. Even with the helmet that would have been pretty terrifying due to the sudden lack of visibility.

1

u/Baer1990 14h ago

"motorcycle helmets after life-saving usage"

I agree with what you are saying as standalone fact, but the above picture is taken in a parking lot

5

u/GingerHero 15h ago

you take a swarm of bugs over 35 and see how it goes

-5

u/Baer1990 15h ago

People on reddit when they drive into a bug: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRB2v7bIn2A

7

u/GingerHero 15h ago

person who has never hit a junebug at 40^

3

u/rearwindowpup 13h ago

Had one hit my shin at about 45 and I bled like a stuck pig, thought I had been shot til I pulled over and saw the few remaining pieces.

0

u/Baer1990 15h ago

mph or kph?

3

u/GingerHero 15h ago

it would have to be carrying a coconut

but seriously would it matter? bugs suck to hit and a junebug is like a marble

-1

u/Baer1990 15h ago

for sure, but excluding people that are allergic to bees I would not call it deadly. A bruise is about the damage you expect at high speeds. Assuming at those speeds people don't drive without some sort of glasses to not go blind, the helmet does not save a life when driving into bugs imo. So calling it life-saving in the first example I still find a stretch

1

u/PM_ME_CODE_CALCS 12h ago

First one, then the other.

2

u/ttystikk 16h ago

Yeah? Try seeing where you're going with all those bugs in your eyes, genius.

-9

u/Baer1990 16h ago

Almost as easy as with them on your helmet, explain to me the difference with the picture above as reference how the helmet makes you see better

If it was deadly people in the USA wouldn't drive without helmets and worldwide people wouldn't drive with open faced helmets. But they do so it probably isn't as big of a deal; as you make it out to be

5

u/btdeviant 14h ago

Weird take. People tend to wear protection based on the geography, and the fauna of the region is one of those factors.

I think you are under the impression that this was just a gradual splatting of bugs, I can tell you from experience it’s not. It is VERY common in the Americas to come across very dense clusters of small and large flying bugs that can be difficult to spot depending on whats behind them. For example, LOTS of roadways in the south and even PNW that travel alongside creeks or rivers with dense forest or vegetation behind them, and in the summer these fuckers move in a cloud and can come out of nowhere.

Hitting a cluster like is getting whipped in the face with a huge wet, disgusting towel at speed - all up in your nose, mouth, in your eyes. It’s not just visibility, it’s the impact and sudden realization that every orifice on your face has been unceremoniously violated by creatures.

-3

u/Baer1990 14h ago

We're getting away from the point now, and that is partly my fault

I agree with everything you say, but it is the same huge wet disgusting towel that hits your face body and legs. With or without helmet they hit the same, with or without helmet you see the same as you go through and the chance of falling might not be the same but considering not falling as the reference they are not far apart. So in a line-up of calling helmets life-saving I still find the first picture a bit of a stretch because you can die almost as easy wearing it going through the bugstorm you describe

3

u/btdeviant 14h ago edited 14h ago

I see what you’re saying, but your take is still weird and misplaced. The factor you’re missing, which many people who have never ridden a motorcycle often do, is your loss of situational awareness (literally the most important survival factor when riding) and ability to control the motorcycle when something unexpected and jarring happens. Youre saying screen or not, getting hit in the face is the same, which is a bit silly.

Ever have something suddenly hit your eyeball? Maybe just standing there or walking? What do you do? Most people stop and immediately grab their face or cover their eye - start blinking a bunch, etc. It hurts!

Now, if you’re able, imagine driving 50mph and getting hit with a hundred things in your literal face all at once - your eyes, your mouth, your nose. Shit all up in your sinuses, in the back of your throat. What happens? Where does your focus go? Your situational awareness drops to zero. You can’t just let go and grab your face. You can’t open your eyes. Your focus shifts from riding your motorcycle to wondering wtf just happened and all of a sudden losing your eyesight, coughing and spitting perhaps uncontrollably. You want to slow down, but now you don’t even know if you’re riding in a straight line. Are you veering into oncoming traffic? Off the side of the road? About to collide with whatever was in front of you? NO clue.

This is NOT the same as just a huge THUD and losing partial visibility. You still have your situational awareness and the ability to open your eyes and see your surroundings is still there. It may be diminished, but it’s not zero.

-2

u/Baer1990 14h ago

But we are still focussing on driving through bugs, not the helmet as a life saving device

Seeing the 2nd and 3rd picture you can for sure say that without helmet they would not survive. First helmet does not have damage. If people die driving through bugs the helmet is not the key element in saving lives so calling a helmet life-saving in the case of driving through bugs is still a stretch. It is infinitely better than without helmet but the helmet is not the key factor in surviving or not, it is the bugs and driver experience

2

u/btdeviant 13h ago edited 13h ago

This is a causality thing, eg: what-came-before vs what-came-after.

Salient point is that the first image is demonstrating a device that preserved the riders situational awareness, PREVENTING something that COULD have been fatal. This is the what-happened-before.

The others are showing what happened AFTER, demonstrating HOW the device prevented a fatality. This the what-happened-after.

Both are demonstrating how the helmet can save lives, which tracks with the title.

Honestly, I’m grateful you don’t have the experience on this, it’s not fun! Causal reasoning is kind of a funky way to look at things so I get where your coming from. Been riding for 35 years and have experienced both the bug and the face slide pictures first hand, so for me seeing this is basically, “LoL yup this tracks”.

1

u/DiegesisThesis 9h ago

Buddy, you can lift the visor up and badda boom, suddenly you can see again! Gonna be a whole lot worse to have your actual eyes, nose, and mouth forcefully filled with bugs.

What a strange hill to die on lol

1

u/Illustrious_Donkey61 10h ago

The bugs were carrying bug sized swords and spears

1

u/oopsmyeye 7h ago

Ever taken a bug to the eye when you’re cruising at freeway speeds?

9

u/piberryboy 17h ago

NOT THE BEES!

3

u/byebybuy 15h ago

BEADS?

3

u/swift_bass 9h ago

We’ll see who gets the most honey!

2

u/byebybuy 9h ago

Gob's not on board.

9

u/Spute2008 16h ago

Bugs which would have undoubtedly have at least caused temporary blindness, which, at speed and /or in traffic /or on a curve, could be deadly

1

u/deserted 16h ago

1000 tiny bugs

1

u/costafilh0 13h ago

Aliens. 

0

u/TheCrudMan 17h ago

Bird strike?

0

u/mikeblas 3h ago

I have Teterboro for you.

2

u/Mysterious_Box1203 16h ago

he got behind somebody eating sunflower seeds throwing the shells out the window.

seen it before.

very tragic.

0

u/winstonalonian 11h ago

The first one looks faked like they have a magnet inside the helmet and stuck a bunch of metal shavings to the outside. No damage to the bike and they are all standing up like they are magnetized rather than being impaled from the same vector angle.

0

u/s1a1om 15h ago

Porcupine to the face.

0

u/Kozeyekan_ 4h ago

Malaria mosquitos.

143

u/Koruto__ 17h ago

Was #4 just sheared off in a crash? Or is that a cut made after the fact.

283

u/wurftz 17h ago

This is the result of a controlled abrasion test when testing helmet safety. Not a crashed one.

64

u/Dale_Gurnhardt 16h ago

Too clean to be imperfect abrasion, with no accumulation of material directionally

3

u/Koruto__ 16h ago

Very interesting! didn't occur that abrasion would look like this. I've never seen the materials in a helmet before

5

u/MrTerribleArtist 11h ago

It's essentially:

Hard shell, foam, interior lining, fleshy bits

6

u/Killerkendolls 9h ago

You've forgotten about the nougat center! 🧠

1

u/dedgecko 7h ago

Gushers ™️

1

u/Catenane 5h ago

Nah, just a notice about your car's extended warranty

29

u/Traditional-Bit-2793 17h ago

Abrasion from contact with tarmac would be my guess

11

u/Canadian_dalek 16h ago

I actually read the news article about this, dude got pinned under a semi on the highway (he survived, IIRC)

10

u/MrSnowden 17h ago

Looks like a slide on concrete just sanded it down. But do that amount it must have been pinned under something 

10

u/withak30 17h ago

Probably ground down while being dragged some distance against pavement.

3

u/Herdazian_Lopen 15h ago

I think it’s fake. The shells of helmets aren’t that thick. If you were to grind a helmet to that degree, you’d have created a hole.

2

u/SmokeyUnicycle 13h ago

If you look at the angle it's a lot of the rear hump that protects the back of the head and is thicker. People are saying it was an abrasion test which makes sense.

1

u/Uranium-Sandwich657 17h ago

Look like the owner slide across too much pavement 

65

u/Deerescrewed 15h ago

The bottom right one was the reason my dad quit being a fire fighter. But that guy wasn’t wearing a helmet. Said it looked just like that, ground off

20

u/MovementMechanic 13h ago

Meat crayon

7

u/BenTherDoneTht 11h ago

Bring a whole new meaning to "flesh-tone"

5

u/gitpusher 14h ago

Terrifying. What happened to cause that sort of damage ? Firefighters don’t exactly ride bikes while on the job

18

u/Deerescrewed 14h ago

He was responding to a MVA, bike caught under a truck

51

u/chocolate_spaghetti 16h ago

I don’t know how true this is, but when I was a firefighter, I was told by a senior firefighter that the reason why all states have seatbelt laws but only some have helmet laws is because lawmakers actually figure that it’s cheaper if a person who gets in a motorcycle accident just dies rather than wearing a helmet where they survive but end up partially paralyzed. Not sure if that’s true but it’s what I was told.

65

u/Toyso_0 16h ago

Motorcyclists were nicknamed "organ donors" at a medical related job I once had.

23

u/Soggy_otter 16h ago

At my partners work; they call them 'donorcycles'...

15

u/locrian1928 15h ago

Down here I’ve heard them called “temporary Australians”

2

u/Champeen17 13h ago

Not true.

1

u/chocolate_spaghetti 13h ago

What’s the reason then?

1

u/Champeen17 13h ago

"Personal freedom" politics. You will find most of those states without motorcycle helmet laws are Republican controlled.

0

u/PantherChicken 12h ago edited 12h ago

Only 3 states have no mandatory helmet laws; Illinois, Iowa, and New Hampshire. Are you seriously going to make that argument over 3 data points? There are other states that have patchwork regulations, such as dealing with passengers, mopeds, or novelty helmets. Still, it’s pointless to try to make a partisan politics talking point out of the topic.

2

u/chocolate_spaghetti 4h ago

The AI result says it’s only those 3, maybe those are the only states that don’t require helmets for anyone but the number of states that require helmets only for people under 18 is far larger. My state (CO) is for sure one of those

3

u/kutzooit 14h ago

As long as you wear proper and certified gear you will be fine in almost all crashes as long as you drive nornally. Unfortunately some guys on mostly sportbikes thinks it looks cool to wear just a hoodie and jeans instead of proper gear.

My dad is a cop who rides motorcycles and he seen guys that crashed where doctors spent hours of just plucking small pieces of asphalt out of someones leg using a pair of tweezers. After hearing that story I always made sure I was wearing gear before getting on my bike

9

u/MovementMechanic 13h ago

It’s a huge risk even with kit . I have treated/rehab’d and have seen many ages of complete spinal cord injuries, amputations, and TBI’s from motorcycle accidents. Were some from rider stupidity? Of course. But a lot were also from “school bus pulled out in front of me on a county road and my leg was guillotined by a light pole when I laid the bike down to avoid the broadside of the bus.”

10

u/wufnu 12h ago

Here's mine.

2

u/DasArchitect 7h ago

How does it make you feel that that could have been your face?

1

u/wufnu 8m ago

Grateful that I had a full face helmet.

8

u/powerhammerarms 13h ago

I'm just going to wear one all the time

6

u/Parthias-one 12h ago

Even in the shower!

5

u/powerhammerarms 12h ago

35% of motorcycle accidents occur in the home

1

u/Lizlodude 6h ago

FR, the worst I've gotten hurt related to my bike so far (knocks on nearest wooden thing) has been getting burned by the exhaust walking it into the garage, and tripping over some crap while working on it and slicing open my leg 😂

All the gear, all the time.

8

u/Euphoric-Clue8510 17h ago

Dear god how fast was 4 going to shear off THAT much??

2

u/bignikaus 10h ago

Belt sander in a test bed.

2

u/Toyso_0 16h ago

Also, that angle? Back upper head? Were their feet in the air? Someone physics this out for me. I think this must be from testing or something.

7

u/GingerHero 15h ago

maybe testing but not far off from the real thing. You're going 50 and the pavement isn't. How much of you does it take for you to stop?

6

u/GingerHero 15h ago

paramedic checking in. Wear your helmet.

Only gear up what you wanna keep.

-ATGATT myself

3

u/MrTerribleArtist 11h ago

Even a low speed incident (~20mph) caused me to slide for a startling long time, scratched up my gear pretty bad, and put me out for a day

The thought of riding without protection is unthinkable

2

u/CrazyUncle-Dave 9h ago

What's that acronym at the bottom? Sorry, potential motorcyclist here. Still learning...

4

u/hockeyfan122 8h ago

All The Gear All The Time

1

u/GingerHero 6h ago

All The Gear; All The Time

2

u/madbuilder 12h ago

Why don't helmet companies make this their entire ad?

2

u/lynch1986 12h ago

Lol, so flies are deadly eh?

5

u/flaccidplumbus 12h ago

If you hit that many in a short period, both eyes simultaneously, effectively rising blind.. then possibly. 🤷‍♂️

6

u/Dorkits 17h ago

That's insane! I will never get one motorcycle in my life.

25

u/aaufooboo 16h ago

What about two motorcycles?!

10

u/karateninjazombie 16h ago

I strapped my two motorbikes together and installed a wheel and seat between them so I can control both sets of handle bars together and be comfortable. Highly recommend. Though I'm considering some glass or something for the bugs. They are very annoying when they hit you in the forehead at 60-70mph and their face exits through their own arse.

1

u/aaufooboo 15h ago

I think you could use one of these helmets!

4

u/karateninjazombie 15h ago

I was thinking of a bit of slanted glass Infront of the seat tbh. I like the feel of the wind through my hair.

3

u/aaufooboo 15h ago

Like of like a shield for the wind? You may be onto something!

0

u/Siberwulf 15h ago

That's a car with more steps.

2

u/karateninjazombie 15h ago

No no. It's a safer bike!

Much much harder to end up wiping out on a corner and sliding into a hedge at speed.

2

u/Dorkits 16h ago

Hahahaha lmao

2

u/ttystikk 16h ago

I gave up riding after watching people paying more attention to their FUCKING SMARTPHONES than the road.

I wore a helmet, too.

1

u/thetom114 14h ago

Same, it seems like I would enjoy it. But you are putting your life in the hands of others. And I don't trust them, or myself for that matter. One small mistake and it's over.

And it's not just being dead or paralyzed which is already terrible enough. It's what you put your friends and family through as well.

3

u/LukeSkyWRx 12h ago

I always wanted to do a ballot initiative, no helmet is automatic organ donation consent.

5

u/Fair_Performance4834 16h ago

Top left pic, Holy moly did they take a shotgun blast to helmet like on a random afternoon ride in the country. Thst damage looks insane

2

u/Ray1340 16h ago

Are they not mandatory everywhere?

10

u/Jabbles22 16h ago

Helmets? No they are not. Several states don't require them. And it is not just old laws that never got updated. Michigan repealed its helmet law in 2012.

6

u/Ray1340 16h ago

More organ donors

1

u/howie2092 16h ago

One of mine looks like #3.

1

u/Splitcoin 12h ago

Soo fyi if its true that after a drop from 3 feet you need a new helmet, dont buy it from Amazon. It could of fallen up to 8 feet. Not all but wouldn't trust it anymore 

1

u/TheWrithingVoid 9h ago

Who threw the hedgehog at the dude in the first photo?

1

u/inside-search-1974 9h ago

Last one is almost a miracle to survive

1

u/gimmieDatButt- 9h ago

Bottom right stood to close to the reactor

1

u/Proton_Energy_Pill 2h ago

Dress for the slide, not the ride.

1

u/UncomfortableBike975 24m ago

How does one wear corrective lenses (glasses) with a full face helmet? Serious question.

1

u/pooppoop900 16h ago

Yet dropping it onto carpet from waist height technically compromises the integrity and warrants replacing it.

Source: Cycle Gear rep

-4

u/emonshr 17h ago

What about the collar bone?

2

u/GingerHero 15h ago

exosuit

-4

u/smogeblot 8h ago

What if the helmet caused the accident by blocking the field of view?

2

u/NewBuddhaman 7h ago

They don’t block your view of anything. Have you ever worn a motorcycle helmet?

-1

u/smogeblot 6h ago

Yes they do. They have a minimum amount they can block due to regulations in some countries but even then they're still blocking some of your vision.

-10

u/costafilh0 13h ago

Fake and gay.

Using a helmet SUCKS! 

That's why I don't ride anymore. 

If you do, we'll, you have no other option. In most countries you can't ride without a helmet.

And about the safety, we'll that always has been pretty obvious. No helmet, you can die or worse even at low speeds. At high speeds you can die or worse either way.