Cycle helmet funny - a lesson taught to my Son.

[Cyberdad]

my view is that they can't do any harm, but they obviously CAN do a lot of good. I don't think anyone doubts that they can't absorb ALL of an impact, but absorbing some of an impact is better than absorbing none of it.
The "if I crashed i'd be dead anyway" attitude is stupid as there might be an impact that's just of the right magnitude for a helmet to make a difference.

It was more the fact of reports of them being more dangerous with rotational impacts that was concerning me. If it was a case of questionable benefit, but nothing to lose, I probably would wear one.

 

[Cyberdad]

Don't wear a helmet if you don't want to but I'll be pissed when the cost of my health insurance goes up because people keep smashing their heads in and I have to pay for them to get treated.

I can see your point, but there seems to be conflicting research as to whether people do keep smashing their heads in. Some argue that injuries caused by wearing a helmet (and the cost of dealing with them) is greater than would be the case if nobody wore them.

The reason that I asked is that most of the studies seem to reach the conclusion which furthers their own agenda, and I had wondered if anyone had managed to extract the truth from the rubbish.

Common sense tells me that something should be better than nothing, but then the most painfull accident I have ever had was when riding a motorcycle with an open face helmet with a peak. A young lad kicked a football into the road, which hit the peak from the side, and I had a sore neck for weeks (managed to stay on the bike though).

 

[gavintc]

Here we go again. Can you people just do a search and read the previous comments.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Don't wear a helmet if you don't want to but I'll be pissed when the cost of my health insurance goes up because people keep smashing their heads in and I have to pay for them to get treated.

Cheer up mate, you're on the other side of the Atlantic to most of us, so little or no impact on your health insurance then.

PS: we say "pissed OFF" over here. "Pissed" means drunk.

 

[jonesy]

Never thought I'd see "cycle helmet" and "funny" in the same sentence...

For those wanting to know more about why what's obvious isn't necessarily what's true:
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/

I mostly do wear one by the way, but silly stunts to scare children is not the way to encourage sensible debate.

 

[ufkacbln]

I was chatting to my 16 year old Son at the weekend about biking and he said to me "yeah Dad, I remeber how you taught me about why to wear a helmet".

When he was about 12, he was coming to mine for the weekend and I borrowed my Brother-in-law's bike & bike rack.
I collected my son and put his bike on the rack then back to mine.

As we were getting ready to go out for a trundle, I asked him where his helmet was and was partly shocked at his reply of "Nah, they're stupid and none of my mates wear one either cos they make no difference"!!

So, I took him into the garage, gave him my old helmet and said to pop it on. I got it fastened then as he looked away, I grabbed a stout peiece of 2"x1" and twatted him over the head.
He shoutes and jumped back, then took the helmet off saying "haway Dad, what was that for??
Well I said, I just wanted to get my aim in, now you've taken the helmet off, I'm going to smack you over the head again - and as you've noticed, it shocked you but didn't really hurt. I now want to see if the cycle helmet ""doesn't really make a difference"" (with a huge grin on my face)

Needless to say he got the message

TonyEnjoyD

The message that as a pedestrian being hit on the head a helmet has a protective role.......... The logical conclusion being that he should wear one when this is most likely as a teenager - when out with mates and down the pub!

Excellent lesson.

 

[Crackle]

The message that as a pedestrian being hit on the head a helmet has a protective role.......... The logical conclusion being that he should wear one when this is most likely as a teenager - when out with mates and down the pub!

Excellent lesson.

Oh can't you just once not do the helmet in a pub example.......please?

 

[ufkacbln]

Don't wear a helmet if you don't want to but I'll be pissed when the cost of my health insurance goes up because people keep smashing their heads in and I have to pay for them to get treated.

Again - I agree fully.....

Lets take a typical sample of head injuries in a hospital ( Thornhill et al 2000)

They describe a cohort that included all hospital admissions and found that in the almost 3,000 cases:

The most common causes of injury were falls (43%) or assaults (34%); alcohol was often involved (61%), and a quarter reported treatment for a previous head injury.

So I assume you are pissed at all those who go drinking without a helmet, are the victims of assaults or simply fall when they could have saved you money by wearing a helmet.

Or again the breakdown from Meier Hillman:

Pedestrians 34%
Vehicle Drivers 28.1%
Vehicle Passengers18.1%
Cyclists 5.9%

Again I agree with your conemnation of all these inconsiderate pedestrians and vehicle occupants who are eating up great amounts of nHS cash by their choice not to wear helmets.

Your point is well taken...

 

[ufkacbln]

Oh can't you just once not do the helmet in a pub example.......please?

BUt - it is such a good example of hypocrisy that I can't resist!

Besides I don't have figures for cake shops!

!

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

Hi all,

Sorry if I started off a very serious debate on what was just a funny I had forgotten all about.

The helmet is in landfill somewhere up-north, the wood was covered in plaster (been mixing with it the weekend before and the bloody irony is that my Son's bike got nicked the next month and he's never had one since (probably traumatised him)
Really, it was only a jokey way to get the message across.

Miserable beggars - I'll not bother in future

Cheers
Tonyenjoyd

 

[swee'pea99]

Sorry for being snotty Tonyenjoyd. Helmets are probably second only to RLJ in the passions they arouse. Hope it won't put you off hanging around...peeps hereabouts are actually a pretty friendly bunch as a rule.

Sorry to hear about your son's bike. Hope he gets over it and back into it.

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

Miserable beggars - I'll not bother in future

Don't get rid of me that easy mate - hence the wink at the end.
I think this is a great forum - informative and fun.

As for my Son, he wants a "Ped" now - a Moped that is - not to be confused with a Pedallo or a small pet pedestrian that you keep in a cage and poke with a stick following a harrowing ride out (I could do with one of them myself now!)

TonyEnjoyD

 

[rich p]

Don't get rid of me that easy mate - hence the wink at the end.
I think this is a great forum - informative and fun.

As for my Son, he wants a "Ped" now - a Moped that is - not to be confused with a Pedallo or a small pet pedestrian that you keep in a cage and poke with a stick following a harrowing ride out (I could do with one of them myself now!)

TonyEnjoyD

I think a PED is now commonly a Performance Enhancing Drug, which your son may well be in the market for in the near future

 

[maxcherry]

Reminds me of the time i was taught to swim. Still can't but i can hold my breath dor a long time.

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

I think a PED is now commonly a Performance Enhancing Drug, which your son may well be in the market for in the near future

You never know Rich P - you never know