Serious: when my wife brought me in after my prang with what later turned out to be a broken hip, one of their first questions was 'were you wearing a helmet?'
When I answered no, I was immediately whisked through the crowded A&E and seen straight away. My guess being, they daren't take a chance of a life-threatening head injury. So, tip for the top: if you want to jump the queue, don't wear a helmet...or at least say you didn't.
Without Opening Any Debate/Argument!!!!!
Please!!!
From 20+ years in/around an A&E department ( & watching/talking to Drs/Paramedics/Traffic Police)
I've seen riders, of all ages/abilities come into our A&E
From Cat 1/semi-professionals (one is now on a pro-continental team), after incidents in local road-races, to the chap on the ubiquitous
'Bicycle Shaped Object'
Generally speaking;
The helmet wearers go home shortly, even if in a couple of plaster casts, or a sling
The non-wearers are kept for observations/Consultant review/CT scans
Likewise, no seat-belt wearers in cars come off worse, than the non-wearers
The old rubbish about being better to be thrown from a car, instead of being trapped is non-sensical
EDIT @ 16:15
The '
Were You Wearing A Helmet?' is a standard trigger question (forgetting the non legal requirement, for now)
Likewise, for a motor-vehicle RTC, it's to the patient (or Ambo crew)
"Was A Seat-Belt Worn', &
"Did The Air-Bags Deploy?"