Cycling helmets.Opinions please

[smutchin]

I think you missed the devils advocate disclaimer.

You say potato, I say potato. You say devil's advocate, I say irrelevant and missing the point.

how do Which? test non helmeted head impacts in their calibrated identical conditions synthetic take on real life to comment on the efficacy of any helmet over not wearing one?

Oh gosh, I don't know. I'm not an engineer or a scientist. It was a long time ago. All I remember is that they had a machine that went ping.

THE POINT, the ONLY point, is that their tests are in a different class of evidence than Licramite's test.

 

[fabregas485]

I do not use a helmet, but people around me are putting pressure on me to start wearing one. Even with a helmet though, a car will still win if I was hit.

I would imagine if I was to wear a helmet, it would have to fit exactly right otherwise it will not feel good to wear and would distract me from the road.

 

[Licramite]

if it don,t fit don,t wear it , it will be useless.

A helmet may save your life, its more likely to save you from a nasty bump on the head with allot skin/scalp damage. even concussion.
If you get hit buy a car or a 30ton artic I wouldn,t expect much out of it, and even if it works the rest of you is going to be pritty managled.

I wear a helmet and my last off, - bike skidded on gravel - my head hit the ground after I had cracked my collor bone and some ribs (all minor cracks but still hurt) and gavel rashed my arms and legs. I could have wanged my head on a big stone or something so though it didn,t help much , it could have.

trouble is if don't get one,if you do come off and bang your head think off all the ribbing you'll get from them.

 

[Julia9054]

All my falling off incidents have occurred at low speed and by my own stupidity/lack of coordination! I have no doubt that were I to be hit by a car at high speed, wearing a helmet would make no difference at all but I have avoided nasty bumps to the head by wearing a helmet when having "clipless moments" at junctions, falling into hedges whilst getting distracted by unusual aeroplanes and skidding on gravel.

 

[Sham69]

I'd vote for wearing a helmet - keeps my comb-over in place.

Also, it's clear to me that most folk think there's a chance a helmet could help protect us in some accidents but is it conceivable that, in some bizzarre circumstance, wearing a helmet (without extraneous attachments) could actually cause us harm? If you think not, then surely the helmet question is a no-brainer - you'd wear one. Can't see how the issue of cool/uncool comes into the equation.

 

[ianrauk]

It's like a new issue of Cycling Plus magazine. In every issue now there seems to be a letter saying how marvellous plastic lids are, saved the writers life and people would be silly not to wear one.

Pathetic really.

 

[benb]

I'd vote for wearing a helmet - keeps my comb-over in place.

Also, it's clear to me that most folk think there's a chance a helmet could help protect us in some accidents but is it conceivable that, in some bizzarre circumstance, wearing a helmet (without extraneous attachments) could actually cause us harm? If you think not, then surely the helmet question is a no-brainer - you'd wear one. Can't see how the issue of cool/uncool comes into the equation.

Because IMV the likelihood of such an incident occurring is vanishingly small and I find cycling much more pleasant without a helmet than with.

If you're going down the "well it just might protect me, no matter how unlikely" then you should also wear one as a pedestrian.

 

[Goldcoast]

.

 

[cyclewick]

For rides that are less than 5 miles, I dont think you need to wear one aslong as you ride carefully and slow, but on longer rides I tend to wear one, not because im a bad rider and think that i might fall off, because a few drivers make idiot moves and i could be going 30-40mph and I would be lucky to get away with concussion and a broken arm, hell i dont want to have brain damage at 16, better safe then sorry!

 

[ufkacbln]

Common sense is to:

1. Wear helmets whilst drinking and prevent 60% of hospital admissions due to head injury occur
2. Wear helmets when undergoing normal activities where 43% of hospital admissions due to head injury
3. Wear helmets in a car where some 16% of admissions of hospital admissions due to head injury occur

Common sense is NOT ignoring all the common causes as being accetable and not worthwhile preventing, yet getting hysterical and evangelical about wearing a helmet when cycling

An activity where the incidence of of hospital admissions due to head injury is so low it fails to be significant on cohort studies of hosptal admission

Its a bit like accepting people getting il from TB, Smallpox, Dysentry and Ebola yet campaigning against ingrowing toenails

 

[Sham69]

If you're going down the "well it just might protect me, no matter how unlikely" then you should also wear one as a pedestrian.

That's how you can recognise me!

Groundhog Day? Of course. What else could be expected when the thread opened as it did? After a few pages, a poll might have been a good idea (don't even know if that's possible on this forum).

I think the wearing of a helmet is a no-brainer? Not quite what I said although I could have been clearer by saying: "I think the wearing of a helmet is a no-brainer if the individual doesn't perceive a downside."