Do you think Bicycle helmets should be required by law?

[Markymark]

A journey mixing it with 100's of cars does seem to have a higher risk of collision than a journey mixing it with 0-5 cars yes.

Yet rural roads are as dangerous as city roads for cyclists irrespective of how safe you 'feel'.

 

[GrahamS]

Yet rural roads are as dangerous as city roads for cyclists irrespective of how safe you 'feel'.

If you say so... not really relevant to my trip to the train station though.

 

[Randombiker9]

Opinions are fine as far as they go, but when formulating legislation it's better to look at the evidence.
And the evidence is clear that cycle helmets do not significantly improve your chances of suffering a serious head injury.
The reason why that is so is probably, in my opinion, because:
The risk of falling off at all when cycling is low.
Therefore the risk of falling off an hitting your head is even smaller.
Therefore the risk of falling off in such a way that a helmet would materially affect the outcome is vanishingly small. Remember that they are only tested to quite low impact speeds, so most impacts will either be so high as to render the helmet useless, or so low that one would not have suffered a serious head injury even without one.

There are probably some situations where they are beneficial, but as above, those situations are so unlikely that they are not statistically detectable.

Finally, there are plenty of activities we do where the risk of head injury is broadly similar, yet no one suggests wearing a helmet for it, because it is an overreaction to the risks involved.

when I fell off my bike overhandlebars (and i hit my head first) back when I was younger around 9/10yrs that if I wasn't wearing my helmet I wouldn't of survived. U could see the damage on the helmet. Also what if a animal was about to jump out in front of you? (Animals are animals you don't know what there going to do) Also anything has risks.

 

[Markymark]

when I fell off my bike overhandlebars (and i hit my head first) back when I was younger around 9/10yrs that if I wasn't wearing my helmet I wouldn't of survived. U could see the damage on the helmet. Also what if a animal was about to jump out in front of you? (Animals are animals you don't know what there going to do) Also anything has risks.

When I fell off my head bumped on the ground as I slid along the road. I got a bit of a bruise. Had I been wearing a helmet there's a very real chance it would have snagged and broken my neck. Had that happened no doubt everyone would have said I was lucky I only had a broken neck and not dead from a head injury.

 

[ianrauk]

when I fell off my bike overhandlebars (and i hit my head first) back when I was younger around 9/10yrs that if I wasn't wearing my helmet I wouldn't of survived. U could see the damage on the helmet. Also what if a animal was about to jump out in front of you? (Animals are animals you don't know what there going to do) Also anything has risks.

You should have seen the damage caused to my buff I was wearing on my head when I went through a van windscreen. If I hadn't of been wearing it, things could have been much worse. Buffs saves lives.

 

[raleighnut]

When I fell off my head bumped on the ground as I slid along the road. I got a bit of a bruise. Had I been wearing a helmet there's a very real chance it would have snagged and broken my neck. Had that happened no doubt everyone would have said I was lucky I only had a broken neck and not dead from a head injury.

Similar here, got 'left hooked' and nearly performed a full summersault, unfortunately I didn't quite complete the rotation needed so landed on the back of my neck, if I'd had anything sticking out on my head I'd probably be typing this with a stick in my mouth.

 

[benb]

when I fell off my bike overhandlebars (and i hit my head first) back when I was younger around 9/10yrs that if I wasn't wearing my helmet I wouldn't of survived. U could see the damage on the helmet. Also what if a animal was about to jump out in front of you? (Animals are animals you don't know what there going to do) Also anything has risks.

How do you know you would have died without a helmet? Just because the helmet was damaged it doesn't follow that your skull would have been damaged in the same way without the helmet.

Unsubstantiated anecdotes like this are exactly why we use evidence when deciding whether something is an effective health intervention or not.

 

[srw]

Also what if a animal was about to jump out in front of you? (Animals are animals you don't know what there going to do) Also anything has risks.

I hope you always wear a helmet and bite-resistant padding every time you walk to the shops. Dangerous things, dogs.

 

[Colin_P]

If helmets ever became law I would wear one of these

or maybe a nice Devo hat, like this

or even

 

[Justinslow]

@Randombiker9 you're entitled to your opinion and there's nothing wrong with that, we live in a free country after all.
I know a lot of people who believe helmets should be made compulsory also that cyclists should all have insurance or pay a road fund license, people have many views on the subject.
I personally don't think they should be compulsory and sometimes wear one - sometimes don't if I'm pootling round the village with my kids for example.
But hey, like you say it's just opinion, you will find however that the "helmet" threads are mainly frequented by people who don't like wearing helmets or believe they will not help in the event of an accident so will post sarcastic comments belittling yours unfortunately, it's sometimes like a school playground where adults replace the children!
No doubt they will reply to this post with facts and figures regarding "the evidence" but have a look for yourself at "the evidence", speak to people who've had head impact accidents on bicycles or use your own experience, and feel comfortable knowing you can wear a helmet if you want because you can, that's all there is to it, and there is no shame in wearing one.

 

[Profpointy]

@Randombiker9 you're entitled to your opinion and there's nothing wrong with that, we live in a free country after all.
I know a lot of people who believe helmets should be made compulsory also that cyclists should all have insurance or pay a road fund license, people have many views on the subject.
I personally don't think they should be compulsory and sometimes wear one - sometimes don't if I'm pootling round the village with my kids for example.
But hey, like you say it's just opinion, you will find however that the "helmet" threads are mainly frequented by people who don't like wearing helmets or believe they will not help in the event of an accident so will post sarcastic comments belittling yours unfortunately, it's sometimes like a school playground where adults replace the children!
No doubt they will reply to this post with facts and figures regarding "the evidence" but have a look for yourself at "the evidence", speak to people who've had head impact accidents on bicycles or use your own experience, and feel comfortable knowing you can wear a helmet if you want because you can, that's all there is to it, and there is no shame in wearing one.

Yebbutt as has been pointed out before you only need to look at before and after compulsion in Australia to see there was no benefit. If evidence doesn't count, it's hard to avoid sarcasm

 

[Smokin Joe]

@Randombiker9 and feel comfortable knowing you can wear a helmet if you want because you can, that's all there is to it, and there is no shame in wearing one.

Helmet advocates often behave like there is shame in wearing one, which is why they can't stand seeing anyone going without. There is no law against wearing a helmet, when you do no one comes up and says "WTF are you doing with one of those on your head", so what right do they have in trying to force those of us who think otherwise to be like them?

There is only one answer to helmet debates, and that is wear what you want and mind your own business about what others do.

 

[Smokin Joe]

[QUOTE 4967765, member: 43827"]
And there is nothing to demonstrate that the op is pushing for compulsion because she is ashamed to be wearing one, just your opinion.

[/QUOTE]
Anyone who comes up to a complete stranger on a ride and berates them for not wearing a helmet can only do so because they feel embarrassed about it themselves and feel they have to justify it.

What other reason could there be?

 

[mustang1]

No I don't think cyclists should wear helmets but commercial airplane pilots should especially considering the turbulence they get up there.

And considering fighter pilots do wear helmets, I'm not sure why commercial pilots should be exempt especially since they pay road tax ,(well, the ones who drive do, or should?)

 

[Smokin Joe]

[QUOTE 4968338, member: 43827"]You're the amateur psychologist, you tell me.[/QUOTE]
I can only think of that one. Nobody goes up to the fat bloke at the lunch stop and tells him to put the cream cake down, do they?