Posts
6184
Joined
8/27/2006
Location
Acworth, GA
US
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 12:11pm
I hate to bring this up now and please don't think I'm insensitive to this matter. Quite the opposite. I hate to see things like this happen and while all the condolences and prayers is nice what is being done to prevent things like this to continue to happen?
I know this sport is dangerous. We all know that. However, I am disturbed by the amount of head injuries. I have fallen on my head before over a short jump and immediately got a huge headache and had to crawl off the track with 2 weeks of being out of it.
I don't know exactly the injuries Masterpool sustained and the exact details so it's hard to know exactly what happened. It also feels inappropriate to ask for details at such a tragic time such as how he landed, what gear he was wearing, what kind of helmet was he wearing, etc. However, I think it needs to be investigated by the AMA if it was a sanctioned race. There needs to be data collected and find out what can be done. Is the helmet not sufficient enough? Does the helmet need to go back to the drawing board? Is there something else that could of been done?
Although I love how everyone pulls together and shows support for the family I think it would be even better if we learned and tried to figure out how to prevent this from happening again. We love to ride and when we wreck or land on our head we want to know we are protected. Maybe current helmet technology is not good enough for direct hits. Maybe it's as far as it can go right now with preventing injuries and we just have to live with what we got.
I think the sport took action with the Leatt with all the spinal injuries the sport was having but what about the head injuries? Maybe we need to dive into that. Also, what role does the AMA play when a AMA sanctioned race is being held and someone gets seriously injured or dies from an accident? Do they investigate the crash and injury? Is the helmet sent back to the manufacturer for more testing to see how they can improve? Or does it just all get pushed aside as a terrible thing to happen and we move on and offer our condolences and continue to race and ride?
I am disturbed by any injury I hear about and especially a death. I feel for the family, the friends, and the sport. It makes me scared to ride, it would make me think twice to let my kid ride.
I think everyone knows what I am trying to say here. When something like this happens, what is being done to prevent or help prevent this from happening again short of just not riding?
I know this sport is dangerous. We all know that. However, I am disturbed by the amount of head injuries. I have fallen on my head before over a short jump and immediately got a huge headache and had to crawl off the track with 2 weeks of being out of it.
I don't know exactly the injuries Masterpool sustained and the exact details so it's hard to know exactly what happened. It also feels inappropriate to ask for details at such a tragic time such as how he landed, what gear he was wearing, what kind of helmet was he wearing, etc. However, I think it needs to be investigated by the AMA if it was a sanctioned race. There needs to be data collected and find out what can be done. Is the helmet not sufficient enough? Does the helmet need to go back to the drawing board? Is there something else that could of been done?
Although I love how everyone pulls together and shows support for the family I think it would be even better if we learned and tried to figure out how to prevent this from happening again. We love to ride and when we wreck or land on our head we want to know we are protected. Maybe current helmet technology is not good enough for direct hits. Maybe it's as far as it can go right now with preventing injuries and we just have to live with what we got.
I think the sport took action with the Leatt with all the spinal injuries the sport was having but what about the head injuries? Maybe we need to dive into that. Also, what role does the AMA play when a AMA sanctioned race is being held and someone gets seriously injured or dies from an accident? Do they investigate the crash and injury? Is the helmet sent back to the manufacturer for more testing to see how they can improve? Or does it just all get pushed aside as a terrible thing to happen and we move on and offer our condolences and continue to race and ride?
I am disturbed by any injury I hear about and especially a death. I feel for the family, the friends, and the sport. It makes me scared to ride, it would make me think twice to let my kid ride.
I think everyone knows what I am trying to say here. When something like this happens, what is being done to prevent or help prevent this from happening again short of just not riding?
We all know the trade-off.
Its especially sad when it takes someone so young, loved and promising as Jesse certainly was.
I have crashed and been unconscious on a few occasions, wearing the best helmet made at the time. It just happens. You can either understand the risks and go forth or try to limit risk and ultimately limit your fulfillment with life.
Also, as far as speed-I don't think that really has that much to do with it in all cases. You can land on your head during a 10mph jump or 40mph jump.
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As far as Jesse's gear, just check his latest photos.
If the AMA mandated larger/safer helmets I'm sure there would be little objection because of the prevalence head injuries in our sport.
Saftey over aesthetics any day.
As far as Marco and VR, we are replacing their lids after any heavy hit and I'm sure other brands are doing the same for their riders, no "repeated head smacks".
The EPS is not thicker depending on the shell size, it's proportionate to the shell size. There is no "thicker EPS" for "larger shell". As far as padding foam for cheek-pad or crown pad, those guys like those thicket for a tighter fit but it has no safety function, just comfort.
where did you get that information?
In theory it could be done, really it's a crumple zone like the front of a car... I'd still like to see more tech put into safety in our sport...
Pit Row
I didn't mean to imply repeated head hits w/ the same helmet. I was refering to the opportunity for a severe head injury to a rider over a lifetime of riding and crashing.
MotoGP is remarkably free of severe head injuries considering how dangerous the sport as a whole is.
As riders we all prefer lighter smaller helmets but what we actually need is a larger helmet w/ more of the energy dispersing high density foam between our brains and the actual shell.
The downside to this attitude is our sport is not growing.....costs are very high to get into the sport which limits who can afford to do it, those with the money to get involved are reluctant to do so due to the inherent danger while nothing is being done to make the sport safer for those who are presently involved. Bottom line is there are so many steps that could be taken to make things safer in general but the majority really don't seem to care....well they care regarding "prayers sent, Godspeed, etc" but these sentiments while well intentioned do nothing to keep the next rider from getting injured or minimize the injuries.
Mind boggling the OEMs don't have a committee or sponsor an organization to collect accident data to see what can be learned from it regarding gear and track design.
I have been around this sport since I was a kid and ask myself all of the time where the increases in speed and the intensity of the jumps and obstacles will stop? We need to be asking ourselves if longer and higher jumps, etc are worth lives, especially the lives of our children. Anyone who has done a track walk at a supercross knows that the jumps are so steep that they are hard to even walk up, and just one small mistake or bike mishap can be devastating to the rider. I love this sport and train riders and yes, I know that there are injuries in many other sports, but at what point do we stop making it more dangerous? It's especially scary when a rider with such a high skill level is hurt. I cannot begin to imagine the grief Jesse's family and friends are suffering but what better way to honor Jesse than to look at what happened to him and use the knowledge to make the sport safer for all riders?
We still contest this, unless a prototype was made by a specific brand and tested but Shoei, Arai, AGV proud themselves to bring to the market exactly the helmet used by the racers and race helmets come from the same molds and same manufacturing as the MotoGP riders. customization is made at padding/comfort level. Not EPS/Shell level.
MotoGP is far from as much dangerous as Motocross. Death and SIC are much more rare than in MX and off-road racing. Bodies do not get caught in the ground as much as mx, the first impact becomes a slide in 70% of the cases where in mx the body, legs, head, arms are going to drag/stuck/ in the ground. Speed is impressive and a straight impact in a wall or a car at that speed would be lethal but it is a very rare accident.
Not as much in the US where tracks are originally car tracks and have walls and EID all over, making them extremely dangerous.
All high-end helmets, off road and on-road use double-density EPS already. The ideal helmet, no doubt would be much larger than what the consumer is ready to wear nowadays.
Don't forget though that a lot of the cost goes in the manufacturing process. Older, slower, manufacturing process using limited number of person is highly expensive.
We have seen a good reduction in the retail price of Shoei helmets in the past 3 years for very good reasons. Their helmets are still among the best finished ones on the market.
http://www.dainese.com/us_en/news/Simoncelli_caduta_prove_Sepang
everyone signs up to start forcing the AMA and factories to collect data.
get a 3rd party independent firm to get all data have an investigation
group and publicly publish all data.
this way if DD brand helmets are not safe it is public knowledge.
or if CN brand boots dont support your ankles correctly we know.
but it is a little soon for this type of thread to me, but it is a way to
get the people who ride to open the eyes and ears and think while
it is a fresh wound and hurts to think about it.
if this sport did not hurt another rider racer ever again it wouldnt be
soon enough. but it is MOTO and we do know this next ride might
be our last. and to all be safe on your next ride.
I am sorry but when someone is making money out of something, I will always suspect ulterior financial motivations.
Right after a tragic death is no time to start laying blame, it is a time for healing.
God speed Jesse.
Post a reply to: Masterpool injury and Motocross brain injuries.