Jakobi, ha! It was fate/destiny that worked, actually. I did not have my seat belt on either time but had I, in the Impala I would not have ended up in a ball in the floor boards and the roof would have crushed my head. In the Rabbit the car was literally (not figuratively) half it's width with the door pushed to the center of the car and the grill in my seat. We both walked away. The roof and floor pan were folded inside the car.
The helmet thing is different.....shit hits my eyes so I wear good safety glasses, I have whacked my foot several times and it hurt. Gloves because of branches and thorns, I don't like the helmet because it restricts my vision and hearing and that is pretty much it. I've never been in a crash where I said "that seat belt saved me" but I have been in 2 bad ones where it would have killed me.
I once heard, while at a stoplight in downtown Columbia on my bad ass KZ1000, (it really was, another story) a squealing sound and checked my mirror just in time to see a "blue hair" in some big car with the brakes locked and tires smoking, cocked sideways, headed my way. I nailed the gas, ran the red light and as I looked back she came to a stop right where I had been sitting. I
heard her before I saw her. I always watch behind me when sitting at a light but in this case had I not heard her
right thenshe would have nailed me. Would I have heard/seen her with my helmet on? Who knows?
I realize this is flawed thinking but my examples are real. I have not had a seat belt save me and I have not had a helmet save me but I have had things happen where I think they might have killed me. Go figure.
Oh, I do not race, I trail ride (fast on ones I know) and ride dirt roads. I do wear "all the stuff" when we go to the forest and hit "real trails" (that I don't know). The stuff I ride every day I could do in my sleep. Oh, I won't haul ass anymore until I've verified there are no trees down!
My wife thinks I'm an idiot. She's probably right.
Ed