I wrote this in response to some queries from people at another site wanting to know how well girls gear stacks (pardon the pun) up in a crash.
I can't say it enough - we could and should have avoided all Mrs Felix's worst injuries. It was slackness on our part.
I thought I'd post a few pics of the gear Mrs Felix was wearing with a brief description of what the damage is, and how it actually helped (or not).
Boots (above!) copped a bit of a scrape as can be seen in the photo. These aren't expensive boots - we paid $190 for these Gaernes, and I bought them for her birthday about 4 weeks ago. They did a pretty decent job of protecting from severe gravel rash and supporting the joint, otherwise we are pretty sure there would be torn ligaments and stuff. It was a pretty bad twist, but at least it is just a bit of bruising. They've paid for themselves easily.
The jacket above is the Joe Rocket Cleo. Apart from some dirty, oily marks, no real discernable damage, except a slight bit of scuffing on the sleeve. The fact that Mrs Felix has no bruising on her arms/elbows is probably due to the armour in the sleeves having done its job.
The gloves are Dri Rider womens gloves, and if I didn't tell you they'd been in an accident, I am not sure you could tell.
Jeans above did sweet fa. They were a $10 pair from Target. Not suprisingly, it is her left knee that carried most of the damage, and you can see the blood in the photo. Apparently Joe Rocket have some knee pads that you can wear under jeans, in the States they cost $23.99. Haven't heard boo from Mladin Imports on whether they are available here, but if they were I'd buy 2 sets today.
Helmet was an inexpensive MDS (about $120). It took a bit of a hit on the lefthand side and saved much scratching of Mrs Felix's face. Neither of us would ever, ever, EVER consider anything but a full face after this. Although it probably doesn't look much, the impact probably would have been enough to knock her out, or break bits (or worse) had she not been wearing it.
Now it must be said this wasn't a high speed accident. She was probably only doing 50-55kph to start with, and it would have been much less by the time she actually fell. But by the amount of injury she got to her unprotected knees, it could easily have been a lot worse had she not had all the other gear on. If she had a pair of Draggins on, she'd probably only have bruising to the knees.
Essentially her worst injuries were unnecessary. We could have avoided them with a pair of proper jeans, or something as simple (and cheap!) as knee pads.
The next bit of "safety gear" after jeans/knee pads/new helmet is going to be a braking and cornering course.
andi - 
As for helmet I think in the end the cost isn't so much an issue as they all need to pass the Australian Standards anyway so it should do what it's made for. 
