Has your helmet saved your life poll

[Pat "5mph"]

There are others.

Yes
For the life of me, I can't understand how folks go helmet-less in this weather, after my short commute my helmet is all frosted up and it's a skateboard kind, very few ventilation slots.
I have been reading up on the links provided.
Interesting the one article (www.cycle helmets something) that says that at about speeds of 12.5 miles a helmet is useless.
Ah, found the article: http://www.risksense.org/2012/06/14/the-myth-of-the-bicycle-helmet/
This occurred to me: as a matter of fact I am not able to exceed 10 mph at any time.
So there are some chances a helmet would protect me in a fall.
There was another statistic quoted by Red Light in another thread (where is he, btw ) about cyclist taking more risks when wearing protective gear: the article though said this does not apply to women riders.
So, there you go, I'm a woman
I confess that I don't always wear my helmet: on hot days on a traffic free path I take it off.
Yes, there are still chances I could take a tumble, I'm taking those chances.
In town, in traffic, it goes back on, because I'm convinced there are lots more chances for me to fall off, and the helmet could help.
In my case, statistics seem to agree.

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

You started it, Pedro! People and glass houses I'm afraid.
3 things..........Religion, Politics, AND Insults

Never spoke to the man in my life and you will find Alun that i have been on the receiving end of much more on this thread.
Worth pointing out that i have been contacted by quite a few people by PM (not participating in the thread) warning me about the very bullies on this site. Well i don't go weak at the knees when people start insults and demeaning behaviour. I simply give it back. Shame some people can give it out but not take it.

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

You started it, Pedro! People and glass houses I'm afraid.
3 things..........Religion, Politics, AND Insults

and i started it?? Good one. Take a look back and see who was pounced on for expressing an opinion. This thread is full of like for like.

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Oh I can take it, sweetie... but looking at your posts in this thread (yes, I've read them all and they demonstrate the mental capacity of an amoeba) you like handing it out but whinge like a petulant two year old throwing a temper tantrum when someone points out your ignorant behaviour.

As for people PMing you "warning you about the very bullies on this site", excuse me whilst I PMSL. The fact that people don't agree with you doesn't mean they're bullies - it means they disagree with you.

"Sweetie"?? Keep those thoughts to yourself. This is about cycling.
I don't need to prove my intelligence to you but if you are eager to know i have a tested IQ of 130. Hardly genius but slightly higher than that of an "amoeba" i am sure you will agree.
In 3 posts i am sure YOU HAVE SHOWN that you are acting like a petulant 2 year old. You are also another one who dishes it out quite often. Took me all of 30 seconds to discover that so i will put your rant down to your being unhappy with your lot hence resorting to outbursts on the internet.

As for the PM's, well yeh, clearly there are people on here that think people like you are to be avoided at all costs. Think i will follow this advice. Goodbye.

 

[Drago]

Yeah, they've lost their argument with him and are resorting to insults.

 

[Alun]

Personal insults are the last resort of exhausted minds!

And a good way of getting the thread locked, if that's what you are trying to achieve.

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Hmmm... "bellend" and Pedrosanchezo...

Somehow they just seem to go together.

If you start sending me naked pictures i am going to have to report you. First "sweetie" now "Hmmm... bellend and Pedrosanchezo...
Somehow they just seem to go together".

Should i be worried? Don't worry, no need to answer that (unless you wish to continue to try and show off to to others?) as you are now on the ignore list. Funny feeling you are on quite a few of those............

 

[StuartG]

Oh dear. Adrian & User go hang your heads in shame. I will not have this dreadful bullying of Pedo Minor. The offering of sweets and correction can only be misinterpreted. Let the lad free to wander the corridors of disbelief to wonder why he is the only person of brilliance and clear analytical thought here.

 

[srw]

I don't need to prove my intelligence to you but if you are eager to know i have a tested IQ of 130. Hardly genius but slightly higher than that of an "amoeba" i am sure you will agree.

Only 130? Tsk. Still, that ought to be enough to understand the very helpful advice that has been offered throughout this thread.

 

[Drago]

Mine was tested at 136 done years back when I went for some very in depth dyslexia testing, which allowing for the 5 point variability of the test means I could be a genius.

Alas, that still doesn't convince me re helmets, but I plod on partly out of habit, and partly because a small chance is better than no chance.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Killing a lunch break at work and dipped in , not read the rest so apologies if repeating other's stuff:

I wear a helmet most of the time, more because it is a high level vantage point for another set of lights and it keeps some of the rain off than any notions I'm appreciably safer in it.

I've crashed with and without a helmet on, on my own and been hit by vehicles. Most of the time my reactions, an outstretched arm, leg or forward roll have done the trick and mainly my head hasn't hit the ground. Once or twice it has and luckily(???) I was wearing a helmet so I got a nasty headache but no cuts and bruises. I wasn't wearing body armour and didn't break anything else or mash any other soft organs either though.

Not a clue if a helmet has ever saved my life. Logically I'd have to recereate those accidents to the minutest detail without a helmet on and die to be able to prove that for definite & if its all the same, no thanks.

It seems to me that the speed and violence of impact likely to make reacting and rolling to protect your head utterly impossible is also the same type of impact that will see the medics scooping smashed bits of polystyrene out of your rapidly cooling grey matter.

For the record: My IQ is 157. All I take from that is that I went on lots of rainy camping holidays as a kid and got really good at puzzle books with the sort of tests that they use to measure IQ.

 

[benb]

I have a perfectly fine understanding thanks. You are making false claims.



"just that any effect they have is not detectable, therefore it must be tiny"

So now helmets have no detectable effect?? You will find that it is claims like this that should be backed up. Otherwise we could all just go around making assumptions and/or accusations wether it was true or false.

But earlier you agreed that the evidence of helmet's effectiveness is lacking, so I'm not sure why what I said is in any way controversial. If helmets were significantly effective, we would be able to tell with the data available.

They may in a handful of limited situations help prevent an injury, but the odds of that happening are so remote to be not worth considering.

Again, it is the job of the people proposing the intervention to prove that it is effective, not for everyone else to disprove it.

 

[benb]

Thats fine benb, but recent posts seem to revolve around why cyclist helmet wearers dont support wearing of helmets for peds.

I think we all agree the risk is so insignificant that wearing a helmet isnt generally required for walking. Asking why we dont support this but we do cycling, when the risk are (claimed) to be similar. All this does is prove (if it is the case) that we are hypocrites, it doesnt prove a cycle helmet is not beneficial, and therefore I think its a nonsense argument if you wish to prove helmets for cyclists are also not required.

The thing is, if the risk is similarly insignificant, which the figures do support, then you really don't need to bother with a helmet. If you don't feel you need one for walking, then I would submit that you don't need one for cycling.

I don't think people have claimed that a cycle helmet is useless: just that the risk of a head injury is tiny to start with; the subset of those head injuries that a helmet could potentially mitigate against is tinier still. Therefore it's no wonder that we don't see a significant protective effect of helmets in the data: any effect is so small as to be undetectable.

Wearing a helmet or not is vanishingly unlikely to make any difference to your risk of a head injury.

 

[benb]

Yes
For the life of me, I can't understand how folks go helmet-less in this weather, after my short commute my helmet is all frosted up and it's a skateboard kind, very few ventilation slots.
I have been reading up on the links provided.
Interesting the one article (www.cycle helmets something) that says that at about speeds of 12.5 miles a helmet is useless.
Ah, found the article: http://www.risksense.org/2012/06/14/the-myth-of-the-bicycle-helmet/
This occurred to me: as a matter of fact I am not able to exceed 10 mph at any time.
So there are some chances a helmet would protect me in a fall.
There was another statistic quoted by Red Light in another thread (where is he, btw ) about cyclist taking more risks when wearing protective gear: the article though said this does not apply to women riders.
So, there you go, I'm a woman
I confess that I don't always wear my helmet: on hot days on a traffic free path I take it off.
Yes, there are still chances I could take a tumble, I'm taking those chances.
In town, in traffic, it goes back on, because I'm convinced there are lots more chances for me to fall off, and the helmet could help.
In my case, statistics seem to agree.

I don't think anyone would claim that there is no chance of a helmet being any use at all under any circumstances. Rather, that the risk is so tiny to begin with that a helmet is unnecessary. There are loads of activities where there is a small risk of head injury, and we normally don't bother with a helmet. Below a certain level of risk, there is simply no point in donning protective equipment - it's not worth the effort.

Actually, it was a bit icy this morning, and it was my first time out on my Marathon Winter studded tyres. I thought my risk of a low speed off was higher than normal, so I wore my helmet today. I had to wipe the dust off though! I also usually wear it when MTBing, as I always seem to fall off!!

Anyway, I don't want to particularly persuade people not to wear a helmet if they want to, but to make sure they have access to all the data to make a proper informed decision.

 

[benb]

[QUOTE 2188508, member: 45"]How can both sides lose the argument?[/quote]

Mutually Assured Destruction!