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pavedwave longboarding
distance longboarding, flatland pumping, cross-country adventuring, boardwalk cruising, and all things skateboarding and good times
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pavedwave
Joined: 22 Oct 2007
Posts: 1120
Location: seattle wa usa
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 Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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| LDPanda wrote: | | I was really disappointed to see some helmet-less riders at the seattle ultraskate VI but its an individual event so i kept my mouth shut. |
Dave I totally agree. But nobody gets concussions "just" riding flatland, right?
As you know (from my yapping offline) this issue has been weighing heavily on my mind. I've also had some discussion offline with other peeps from this forum and elsewhere about issues of liability, the "institution" of pavedwave.org, and events in general.
For future Ultraskates, I will continue to explicitly define the event back to its "individual" origins, rather than evolve it into some big, fanfare-ish hoopla of media and sponsors and an increasingly risky number of participants. I'm referring right now to the local, Seattle-area event. What people choose to do in other states and worldwide, is entirely up to them and always has been. This site does not and can not organize anything anywhere else.
My intention behind the original May Ultraskate 2007 was to raise donations for Livestrong by skating for cancer, largely driven by my own personal family losses both distant and recent past, and to set the first world record for the longest mileage skated in a day. Both goals were accomplished, and every Ultra since then has always been a positive blast of new discovery. What started as a bit of a spectacle has now become more of a true athletic personal challenge. I want the Ultras to remain a positive driving force in my own life, not an umbrella of personal liability looming over my head.
For the next Ultra, (which is just over a month away!) I want to push for another personal best, and knowing the extreme exhaustion and possible delirium involved, it's not even a question that at the bare minimum a helmet is required. But separation between "spectator" and "participant" gets watered down in the Ultras -- there are some people who participate as skaters knowing they will push themselves to the point of being tired, but not completely whacked out and drooling into a bucket. Then there are a select one or two who push all the way and do exactly that. The majority just swing by for a few laps, to have a good time, cheer on, and support. So are these people, as part-time drop-by "supporters" -- required to wear helmets? Up to them.
After 150 miles of skating and thinking only of when to toss down the next electrolyte tablet, monitoring my hamstring cramps, staying awake, whorfing down a slice of pizza, and maintaining a decent pace, trust me, the LAST thing I personally will be doing is trying to monitor or enforce whether someone wants to keep their brains intact or not on the unexpected crash.
If you must kill yourself, just remember, and if relevant make sure your parents remember -- the Ultraskates are NOT organized events, and pavedwave.org has nothing to do with your (or your parents) lack of good judgement.
In my mind, in an Ultraskate, you show up and push yourself as hard as you want to, and depending where you draw the line, that could even include you dying. No joke. Just look at the triathalon statistics in the past decade -- an increasing number of off-the-couch athletes' sudden and unexpected heart attacks will tell you this, even people in their 20's and 30's. Not to mention you could also get nailed by a big truck on any number of crosswalks and have your brains splattered all over the road, even with a helmet on.
Helmets really are a personal decision -- and I'm not going to pretend to be in charge of anyone else's decisions besides my own. Nor put myself in a position where parents might think I'm assuming that role.
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pavedwave
Joined: 22 Oct 2007
Posts: 1120
Location: seattle wa usa
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| Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:41 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.bikeforall.net/news.php?articleshow=644
Judge blames dead cyclist in "extraordinary" court case against illegal driver
CTC has condemned a judge's decision to reduce the sentence handed down to an unlicensed driver because the cyclist he killed - valued by a judge as worth £15 - wasn't wearing a helmet.
Denis Moore, 50, collided with cyclist James Jorgensen, 55, last September on a roundabout in Seaham, County Durham. Jorgensen died eight days later of severe head injuries. Although the court was told that Moore was only driving at around 20mph, Moore's solicitor acknowledged that his client had suffered a "momentary lapse of concentration."
At Durham Crown Court last Friday, Judge Richard Lowden gave Moore a 24-week suspended prison sentence. He said the fact that Jorgensen had not been wearing a helmet was a "mitigating factor" and Moore's sentence would be reduced accordingly. |
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Shaine
Joined: 08 Jun 2009
Posts: 33
Location: TriCities, WA
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| Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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While being quite self-hypocritical with this comment; Helmets a far more about that potential collision with a vehicle. It doesn't matter how good you are or what kind of street skating you're doing, this is always a possibility. Coming from someone working in the ER, it does make a big difference in the outcome. Am I saying there's no need when there are no vehicles in the equation?-Absolutely not, its just that a head injury is likey in a bike/skate'/ped vs car scenario when you look at the physics of the impact.
I do not wear a helmet often enough myself I will admit, and I know better. |
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Arjen
Joined: 07 Feb 2009
Posts: 13
Location: Netherlands, stupid flatlands
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| Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:26 am Post subject: |
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| After all I've read about helmets I want to buy one myself. The only thing I do is cruising, LDP and some dancing. Should I look for a multi-impact helmet (like most skate helmets) or a helmet with EPS, wich is more safe but can take only one hit? |
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LDPanda
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
Posts: 418
Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:32 am Post subject: |
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My personal opinion here is that multi-impact helmets are the way to go for flatland/dancing/cruising/commuting. I find them to generally be more comfortable and youre not gonna break them with a little rough handling. A single impact foam can be destroyed just by dropping your helmet on the pavement (or getting pissed off and tosing it across the park). Good for you for stepping up!
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