Quote:
Originally Posted by MrRoboto
Just curious. A quick bit of research tells me that typical ski helmets protect up to an impact of 22kmh whereas the average skier clocks in at a speed of 43kmh.
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Stats like that are almost meaningless. You can die just falling over backwards with a helmet on. It all depends on impact angles and materials. Catch a back edge on a snowboard going 5 mph and hit a sharp rock you can die with the best gear on.
The doctors treating him already came out and said had he not been wearing his (high-end) helmet he would have died already. Helmets, like a lot of safety gear, are not magic force fields and do not protect from every sort of impact. People still die and/or get severely injured in cars with air bags, for example, even when everything works as it should bad things happen.
Strange to think he has done so many miles in racing cars, even had bad accidents, in a sport which people perceive to be dangerous, yet something like this may take him out.
God speed.