Helmet

Although I am not a motorcyclist, I believe I have the perfect solution to the helmet problem: All motorcyclists, whether they are now using helmets or not, should be required to file statements with their own insurance companies (if they are insured) and with the DMV, certifying that they (the motorcyclists) will hold all persons and companies harmless from liability in case of an accident which results in personal injury to the motorcyclist. This statement should put the ball right in the lap of the motorcyclist and it will be his decision whether or not to wear a helmet.

No one had to tell Braeden Benedict that concussions are an issue in youth football. Twice in the last two seasons, the 15-year-old watched teammates suffer from what coaches call "getting your bell rung. " Even scarier, his friends continued to play, unaware of their injuries until later, when headaches set in. "I'm thinking, 'Well, this is a problem,'" Benedict said. "What can we do?" Bright and articulate, this Palos Verdes Peninsula High freshman barely weighs 100 pounds and looks more like an honors student than a fullback.

A meeting of the helmets? The NFL is intent on curtailing those. A meeting of the minds on the issue? Good luck with that. On Tuesday, the league fined ? but did not suspend ? three players for dangerous hits in Sunday's game, docking Pittsburgh's James Harrison $75,000, and dinging New England's Brandon Meriweather and Atlanta's Dunta Robinson $50,000 each. A spokesman said the league wants to give players fair warning before suspending them for such hits, and will send a memo to all 32 teams Wednesday about the changes in disciplinary action.

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison has carved out a niche as one of the NFL's most feared defenders over the last five years by straddling the line between clean and dirty play. After one dangerous hit too many, the league apparently has seen enough. The NFL suspended Harrison for one game following his helmet-to-facemask hit on Browns quarterback Colt McCoy last Thursday, making Harrison the first player to miss game time as a penalty under the league's revamped policy on such collisions.

I read with interest the Oct. 5 Travel section article "Tour de Sand," as this is a bicycle path my husband and I have ridden many times and always enjoyed. Under "Tips for the Road: Ride Smart," I would like to add what is the most important word of advice to any cyclist any place and any age: Always wear an American National Standards Institute-approved bicycle helmet. Marilyn Vassos Irvine

Re "Bikers Push for Relaxed Helmet Law," May 13: So, in supporting the helmet law, the California Assembly is concerned with reducing medical costs often footed by the public, eh? How is it that eaters of cheeseburgers and fries aren't required to protect their arteries? I've ridden motorcycles for 35 years, I commute on two wheels over 66 miles of L.A. County every day and I wouldn't ride a foot without my helmet--law or no law. But this nevertheless smacks of the tyranny of the majority to me. Steve Stein Long Beach The law should allow bikers to ride without helmets--as long as they carry organ donor cards.

Free safety Rahim Moore went on a hunt after halftime. Moore, knocked out of the game because of a concussion in the second quarter, frantically searched the sidelines for his helmet. "They took it away from me and I was mad, real mad," Moore said after a 24-16 loss to Stanford. "I was going to run onto the field and play if I found it." Instead, Moore remained on the sideline. Coach Rick Neuheisel said the Bruins couldn't afford to lose another starter in the secondary.

It is the "signature wound" of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars: traumatic brain injury from the blast of the enemy's improvised explosive devices. Now two researchers say that minor changes in the military's combat helmet could reduce the incidence and severity of these injuries. Using complex computer modeling to determine the impact of such blasts on helmets, physicist Willy Moss and mechanical engineer Michael King of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Northern California concluded that soldiers and Marines would be better protected by wearing a slightly larger helmet with 1/8 inch more foam padding.

UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince was still foggy on what happened. Washington linebacker Donald Butler said it was a regrettable hit. But the emotion that came from Butler delivering a helmet-to-helmet hit on Prince was obvious. It sent Prince from the game with a concussion. Butler was called for a personal foul. UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel was diplomatic afterward. "The NCAA is trying to crack down on helmet-to-helmet contact, but when you're going full speed it's a tough deal," Neuheisel said.

The much-maligned combat helmet worn by U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan sustained another blow Monday as engineers from MIT reported that the headgear, as currently designed, did little to protect troops from blast-related brain injury. But the research team identified a design change that could substantially improve the helmet's ability to reduce the risk of concussion: a face shield capable of deflecting the rippling force of an explosion away from the soft tissues of the face.

So much for tradition. USC Coach Lane Kiffin and Athletic Director Pat Haden said Wednesday that they were surprised to learn that UCLA plans to wear an alternate uniform design when the teams play Saturday at the Coliseum. On Tuesday, UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero announced on his blog that UCLA would "be unveiling a uniform that we have been working on with the Adidas design team for several months. " The Bruins are expected to wear all-white uniforms and white helmets.

The "game of the century" might not have been the best game Saturday night. Louisiana State and Alabama lived up to the billing to the extent the volume was high and the scoring was low. It was a brutally battled contest pulled out by LSU, 9-6, on Drew Alleman's 25-yard field goal in overtime. The sold-out crowd of 101,821 at Bryant-Denny Stadium, stunned in the end, could not have been more vocally prepared. "I don't think anybody could watch that game and say Alabama doesn't have a really good team," Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban said.

Newer isn't necessarily always better, even when it comes to football helmets. A study published online Friday in the Journal of Neurosurgery finds those vintage "leatherhead" helmets may protect as well as or better than modern ones when it comes to some typical helmet-on-helmet collisions that can lead to concussions. Let's pause for a disclaimer: The study authors don't advocate giving up today's polycarbonate helmets for those old leather-covered ones--the newer ones have resulted in a decrease in severe head and neck injuries.

Reporting from South Bend, Ind. -- USC faces Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., on Saturday. The rivalry has a long history, and the Fighting Irish will be flashing a little something extra this time around – gold-flaked helmets, 80,000 'rally towels,' maybe a twist on the uniform. But, Coach Brian Kelly insists, it's not like they planned anything special. It's only a coincidence, Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly insists. Nothing special. No extra planning was involved.

As scientists confirm that football and other high-impact sports can leave lasting brain damage, companies are marketing "anti-concussion" equipment to coaches, parents and children that, neurologists say, probably does not work. "I wish there was such a product on the market," Jeffrey Kutcher, chairman of the American Academy of Neurology's sports section, said at a Senate hearing Wednesday. "The simple truth is that no current helmet, mouth guard, headband or other piece of equipment can significantly prevent concussions from occurring.

Dunta Robinson hit. And the NFL hit back. The league Monday fined the Atlanta Falcons cornerback $40,000 for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Philadelphia's Jeremy Maclin, reasoning the receiver was in a "defenseless posture" having just made a catch an instant before. The hit came with 6 minutes 12 seconds to play in the third quarter, as Maclin was running across the middle with the ball. Robinson blasted his helmet into Maclin's, flattening the receiver. Maclin lay on the turf for several seconds and got up slowly but was able to return to the game.

As an avid rider and motorcycle industry professional, I was pleasantly surprised to see that you actually possess a tongue-in-cheek (or in-armpit, as appropriate) sense of humor, as demonstrated in the Sept. 1 "Breezy Rider" editorial. Instead of mandating the length of "bug-catching biker beards," however, let's collectively work for an amendment to California's unpopular and ineffective motorcycle helmet law that would allow adults to once again ride free. John Paliwoda Reseda

Thank you for your editorial. As a firefighter/paramedic, I all too often see the difference a helmet makes while riding a motorcycle. For the last 10 years, time and again in my personal experience, I have seen too many (primarily young males) lose their lives to a head injury incurred while riding a motorcycle without a helmet. Sometimes more tragic than the loss of life is the incurrence of a major head injury that causes brain damage. This patient usually requires a great deal of rehabilitation.

In less than 48 hours, a father's world had turned upside down. Noe Medina's 7-month-old son was dead by 9:25 a.m. Wednesday. Shortly after, his wife of 13 years was charged with murder and felony assault on a child. On the grounds of UC Irvine Medical Center on Wednesday afternoon, Medina, of La Habra, tearfully defended the mother of his three children, who is accused of pushing their infant son off a four-story parking garage at Children's Hospital of Orange County on Monday night.

Former state Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd, a tough-talking Democrat with a penchant for salty speech who was best known for championing a bill that requires motorcyclists to wear helmets, died Thursday. He was 80. Floyd, who represented the South Bay area in the Legislature from 1980 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2000, died at his Sacramento home of complications related to diabetes, said Martha Felix, his companion. Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) called Floyd "one of the legendary figures of California politics.