Bradley Wiggins calls for safer cycling laws and compulsory helmets

[Wobblers]

[QUOTE 1971893, member: 45"]Still having trouble interpreting research. Pedestrians include drunks, the frail elderly and the wreckless.[/quote]

Oddly enough, you'll find those groups well represented in motorist casualties.

 

[Norm]

do you have a source for this ?

I'd like to think a tangy Worcestershire would work well, but HP would suffice at a push.

 

[benb]

do you have a source for this ?

Per distance is 34/billion km
Per hour is 0.46 per million hours

Both figures from here, original stats from DfT I think.

 

[benb]

I'd rather we hedged our bets and wore helmets for that very reason.

And therefore, to avoid being a bit of a hypocrite, I assume you wear one when walking as well?

 

[Wobblers]

[QUOTE 1971633, member: 45"]My point was that helmets are not I believe tested with anything other than direct impacts, and that these results have little connecting with travelling speed before an incident.[/quote]

Helmets are not designed to cope with rotational impacts. This is one reason why the testing regime only deals with direct impacts. Travelling speed has a direct correlation with the magnitude of rotational forces experienced in an incident. In a crash, horizontal velocity is often transferred to vertical velocity, and makes multiple impacts more likely - I have a broken ankle which is a direct testament to that. In short, horizontal velocity is very much relevant.

 

[benb]

No because I'm intelligent enough to know that most cyclists already wear helmets vs the 100% of pedestrians who don't, thus the accident statistics are inherantly skewed.

That makes no sense. Either the small risk of a head injury is worth protecting against, or it isn't.
Why is the risk of a head injury on a bicycle worth protecting against, but the risk of a head injury as a pedestrian not worth protecting against?

 

[Linford]

Linf you do realise that you are the only person taking this seriously don't you?

The helmet debate or the alcohol and cycling thing ?

 

[Fnaar]

I'd wear one of those "bunch of bananas " style old leather helmets if I could find one.

-----------------------------------
Sent mobile phone stylee

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Here's an interesting and entertaining video presentation on helmet safety,
design, and engineering. If you don't have time to watch it all, skip to 5min
37sec and watch from there.

http://youtu.be/07o-TASvIxY?t=5m37s

Copenhagen's bicycle ambassador talks about how important the bicycle is for liveable cities and how bicycle helmets are threatening bicycle culture.



GC

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I'd rather we hedged our bets and wore helmets for that very reason.

Should I wear one when I go out running? Club members often trip one another over, and the cross country runs can be very slippery.

 

[Red Light]

Ruptured aortas

That's what did for Princess Di and despite the best French medical care they were not able to save her.

 

[lukesdad]

Cyclists that is Greg

 

[Red Light]

Help me out...

1. If I hit you over the head with a baseball bat it will hurt
2. If I hit you over the head with a baseball bat whilst you are wearing a cycle helmet with a level of force insufficient to break the helmet it will hurt less
3. If I hit you over the head with a baseball bat whilst you are wearing a cycle helmet with a level of force sufficient to break the helmet it will hurt. How much less than 1 will it hurt?

1. 
   
   Better still. If I swing a baseball bat one inch above the top of your head the worst you will feel is the draught on your head. If I swing a baseball bat one inch above the top of your head and you are wearing a cycle helmet it will hurt a lot. Over millenia of evolution we have got pretty good at not hitting out heads when we fall but put a helmet on and suddenly your head is a lot larger and the evolutionary protection mechanisms and the instincts learnt since birth no longer work. I know. I am quite tall and back in the days when I wore a helmet I was continually banging it on things, particularly door frames, something I never did without the helmet. And sometimes it was very painful, especially when it wrenched your neck.

 

[lukesdad]

Apparently head injuries are quite common in Angling. Must be those high velocity weights they use. Of course their helmets should be camo ones, I guess.

 

[172traindriver]

[QUOTE 1972243, member: 45"]That's what they want us to all believe...[/quote]

One of life great mysteries, who was responsible???????