Helmet cams and lights unsafe?

JeffBrown

As other people have stated, it will break before it can cause any harm. So I don't find them unsafe at all, and the cameras are actually pretty fun to use and look back on and can actually help if something bad does happen.

Clockworkmark31

Mass, speed and force will always break the mounting point before it breaks your neck, fact. I have seen and been involved in track day accidents where the camera survived and recorded the incident. This just says to me that a sufficient load point was placed on the camera.

Almost sounds like OP was trying to fix something that wasn't broken.

The Rookie

The issue isn't snagging it, the issue is hitting whatever you hit with the mounting at the impact point and being driven in through the helmet.

Of course you could hit a rock or tree branch just as pointy, but with a helmet mount you could crash onto flat ground when otherwise you would be fine and the mount become a point driving into the helmet.

Increased risk of injury, yes, significant increase, almost certainly not, worse chance of increased injury compared to not being able to see due to a lack of helmet light...probably not!

Of course the type of mount is important, no steel screws lined up to slam into your head would be nice! The cheap flat mount that comes with the magicshine copies is probably about as safe as you will get.

johnmcl7

cooldad wrote:

Ask Michael Schumacher.

If you're referring the suggestion made by a journalist that Schumacher's accident was made worse by the camera then you should know it was an entirely baseless accusation that Schumacher's own medical team disagreed with which the journalist later retracted. If you know of proven medical evidence which demonstrates that the mounted camera did aggravate it the accident then you should post it.

In formalised testing, there is a risk from cheap mounts that do not correctly break away and cameras mounted in front of the camera to give a view of the rider's face (popular on TV) but otherwise the mount should break away on impact so they don't increase the risk:

http://www.trl.co.uk/umbraco/custom/rep ... ameras.pdf

On a simpler level, if mounted cameras did significantly increase injury then there should have been a sharp rise in serious head injuries with the quick spread of action cameras but there's no figures that show that.

cooldad

Tell you what, I'll ask Mike when he's finished snoozing.