Donating Used Motorbike Helmets | Rider Journal

A number of years in the past, I took a coaching course referred to as A Crash Course for the Motorcyclist, which taught fundamental abilities for bystander help at an accident scene till skilled assist arrives. One key lesson was this: If a motorbike crash sufferer isn’t respiration and a helmet interferes with respiration help, the helmet should come off – or the sufferer will die.

Members of our class practiced strategies of eradicating a helmet in such an emergency to reduce stress on a sufferer’s neck. After all, helmets are wanted to apply these abilities, however in speaking with some first responders who had been taking the course, I found that nobody had bike helmets at their stations for coaching. In actual fact, few had any sensible expertise with bike helmets. I wished to handle that.

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Somewhat than throw away a helmet that was able to be retired, I donated mine to the Emergency Medical Companies (EMS) workforce at my native hearth station. The lead paramedic met me within the foyer, the place I demonstrated how a modular helmet works by pivoting up the chinbar. “By no means seen one like that,” he stated. He referred to as within the workforce members on obligation and had me present them too. None had ever seen a modular helmet. I identified that modular helmets usually have a purple launch button on the chin and that elevating the chinbar all the way in which up can permit entry to an accident sufferer’s face while not having to take away the entire helmet. Speak about an “Ah-ha!” second! A couple of years later, I donated a pal’s full-face helmet to my native EMS so they may apply helmet elimination abilities with that helmet fashion too.

Extra just lately, I questioned if the EMS groups within the close by metropolis of Springfield, Massachusetts, would respect a helmet donation. To search out out, I grabbed espresso with my pal and neighbor Brian E. Couture, a lieutenant with the Springfield Fireplace Division. Couture grew up driving dirtbikes, had a Yamaha R6 sportbike as a younger grownup, and offered Harley-Davidsons for seven years earlier than he joined the fireplace service, so he already has a greater understanding of bikes and riders than most individuals. As a frontrunner in his division, he’s all the time on the lookout for methods to assist his individuals serve others extra successfully.

“As first responders, I feel we might be extra compassionate if we higher perceive how an accident sufferer’s gear figures into the state of affairs,” he defined. “Information and expertise consistently change finest practices. That’s why ongoing coaching is so essential. We haven’t completed any particular coaching for helmets, however I feel it’s an important thought.”

Couture related me with Christopher F. Kuczarski, medical coordinator for the Springfield Fireplace Division, who was intrigued a few helmet donation. “I’m specializing in first support this 12 months, so it will be nice if I may add a module with donated helmets and move alongside the data and coaching to the fellows who’re on the market on medical calls.”

Kuczarski served in EMS for 12 years, seven of these as a paramedic, earlier than pivoting to coaching. “300 firefighters can be taking refresher coaching this 12 months,” he advised me. “Due to this donation, helmet consciousness, and when required, helmet elimination, can be on the agenda. Coaching and practising with the sort of helmets that our individuals could encounter at an accident scene is a good thought. So is having riders like Scott donate helmets for EMS groups to coach with.”

With my just lately retired helmet, plus three extra donated by native riders, the Springfield Fireplace Division now has full-face and modular helmets in a number of sizes. This could allow coaching individuals to play the roles of each accident sufferer and first responder to raised perceive what’s concerned in helmet elimination in an emergency.

Use your finest judgment in evaluating when it’s time to retire your helmet (see sidebar). And when that point arrives, don’t simply throw it away. As an alternative, donate your aged-out helmet to your native EMS workforce for first responder coaching. You simply would possibly assist first responders save a life.

SIDEBAR: What’s the 5-Yr Rule?

As soon as a helmet protects your head in an accident, it has completed its job and needs to be retired instantly. However even when a helmet encounters no impacts, environmental publicity and regular wear-and-tear take their toll.

Maybe you’ve heard of the 5-Yr Rule. Main helmet producers advocate that helmets get replaced after 5 years (some say seven) of use. Why? As a result of the supplies in a helmet that work collectively to guard your head, similar to Styrofoam, resins, and glue, break down over time and with publicity to daylight, climate, and sweat.

The Snell Basis, an unbiased nonprofit bike helmet testing group, factors out that unused helmets saved in good situation don’t routinely expire after 5 years. That stated, Snell does advocate changing helmets after 5 years of regular use.

What “regular use” means is a judgment name. Do you journey frequently within the scorching solar? Do you sweat when sporting a helmet? Do you’re taking long-distance rides in any sort of climate? Some of these publicity speed up the breakdown of helmet supplies. For those who take shorter and fewer frequent rides, your helmet received’t doubtless put on out as quickly.

In any case, at any time when you might be prepared for a brand new helmet, think about donating your outdated one to your native EMS for coaching.

Contributing Editor Scott “Bones” Williams was a contract scribe and long-time Rider subscriber when it lastly dawned on him to write down for Rider. Greater than 20 years later, he’s nonetheless sharing tales about individuals, locations, and roads he encounters on a motorbike.