ksquared
"O Captain, My Captain"
Bull: I've made the point several times that the Hurt Report, while excellent research in it's day (circa 1980), is not the last word on the subject of motorcycle safety and, in several ways, is sorely outdated.Thanks Amigo!
However, I find nothing about facial area impacts within the Hurt Report. What was offered uis only the blogger's opinion as far as I can read.
I do agree that wearing a helmet is the only way to go and that a full face would be safer than an open face.
Here is much more recent data from the NHTSA
Facial Injury
There were 7,350 facial injuries sustained by motorcyclists in our data (Table 15). As
seen above, facial injuries were more common for unhelmeted motorcyclists compared to
helmeted motorcyclists (9.2% versus 5.7%). This data provides an unadjusted estimate
that motorcycle helmets are 37 percent effective at preventing facial injuries.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The interaction between helmet use and single-versus multiple-vehicle crashes is
displayed in the bottom two rows of Table 16. In both single-vehicle and multiple-vehicle
crashes, helmeted motorcyclists have lower odds of receiving facial injuries compared to
unhelmeted motorcyclists. In single-vehicle crashes helmeted motorcyclists are half as
likely to receive a facial injury compared to unhelmeted motorcyclists. Motorcyclists in
multiple-vehicle crashes are 66 percent as likely to receive a facial injury as unhelmeted
motorcyclists. Using the logistic model we estimate motorcycle helmets to be 48 percent effective at preventing facial injuries in single-vehicle crashes and 34 percent effective at preventing facial injuries in multiple-vehicle crashes.
From:
Motorcycle Helmet Use and
Head and Facial Injuries
Crash Outcomes in CODES-Linked Data (2009)
Study can be found at: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811208.PDF
Not looking for an argument - just providing information germane to the conversation.