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And the sky still hasn't fallen with the championship drawing to a close. Haven't read about any riders complaining either. I think this safety requirement was timely and I hope someday we follow suit in the US.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
The Shop
"But they require helmets," you say?
Helmets have a safety standards from government and independent agencies. Upper body protection...which the phrase in and of itself is up to interpretation...might have certified components but the whole of the piece doesn't fall under a standardized testing system.
Finally, I think if "good parents/ coaches/ trainers" started their kids off wearing the correct protective equipment, they become used to it and it carries over into their adult racing career.
I'm guessing most of the "this should be implemented" crowd are older folks who have jobs and see the value in protective equipment. But I also I bet you went thru that "I'm indestructible" phase. If riders don't want to wear certain types of equipment...it's their CHOICE. I think it's a bad choice but it's their CHOICE none the less. Like my grandpa used to say, "You can't fix stupid. You can't make rules for it and you sure can't legislate for it."
I think for now...maybe required equipment for minors and recommended for everyone else but even that is tenuous at best.
Here is a view of the extensive back protection of a '16 FOX Raptor.
Inside is like road racing spine protection.
EDIT: this fits perfectly with my Leatt neck brace.
For example.
in my race this weekend some guys went down and one tried to get off track as i came over and i center punched him in the torso. i was tossed and ended up with a scrapped shoulder and fortunatly he didnt suffer any injuries. Now i can't say with 100% surety it prevented a major injury but it can be assumed he woulndt have gotten up as fast, perhaps he wouldve had the wind knocked out of him.
now i do believe that making a rule to require it, is too much. next theyll require knee braces and neck collars. but for some riders they are safer not running these. I have seen guys get injuries that were supposed to be prevented by these and I have even given them a fair trial and i couldnt get comfortable enough to safely ride around with them
I have considered drilling more holes in it for ventilation but I don't think I could do it and have it look clean still.
More than anything I hate road rash...and I've taken several high speed tumbles across the desert (through brush, rocks, etc. etc.) in this and haven't had any road rash at all.
I don't expect it to do anything but protect from road rash, tree limbs, and roost...I did hit the ground hard enough to hurt my shoulder (no road rash, but the force of hitting the ground-it doesn't dissipate force like that-did something to my shoulder)...but if I'm going to get ran over, or slide across the dirt...I'd much rather have this between my body and the tire/skid plate/foot peg/etc. than just a jersey, that's for sure.
I personally ride off-road and I think I've gotten lucky with no rib injuries landing on some of those roots because I had my chest pro on. I'd imagine with the little rocks on the moto track it could easily be the same. I feel like it won't prevent major injuries, but it's way better than nothing in the event of a crash.
Pit Row
Neck braces is an other thing, that is really personal and even I dont like it anymore, I'm wearing an ortema brace since march again but it bothers me way too much. So i'm considering to don't wear it anymore.
As it stands, you have to weigh the impact on your finishing position against the risk of injury. Consider two different outcomes, everyone wears one or nobody wears one. For simplicity, your finishing position will be the same in either case, but in the everyone wears one case, everyone is better off due to the decreased injury risk.
My brother was wearing the Fox Titan body armor, and lost the front end on the first lap of a moto, got ran over...he had barely a scratch on some slight bruising...it goes without saying that without the back protection that would have been much worse.
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