Having to wear a helmet to do a sportive

[MacB]

I'm not anti helmet, couldn't care less who wears one and I would wear one if I was doing proper off roading or racing in a group.

But I do fear compulsion creeping in and so find the anecdotal 'a helmet saved my life' crap to be really irritating. I can even understand compulsion for Sportives as I can envisage a lot of inexperienced racers trying to race.

I think LukesDad summed it up, assess your own risk and wear one if you're participating in any disciplines where you feel the risk warrants it.

 

[screenman]

I completely agree.

 

[Crackle]

Well I think we can all agree that we're anti-compulsion, I'd even stop wearing mine if it was made compulsory and I'm totally against this insidious creeping safety culture, I just want to bite people who repeat the mantra of safety when you can see there isn't a light on inside their head and they are just repeating word junk, surprising though how many otherwise bright people do this.

As for Sportives, it's probably an insurance thing. I bet if we all bigged up rotational injury and the chances of catching your chin strap in passing street furniture whilst gurning for the photographer, the insurance companies would forbid helmets.

I always end up posting in these threads, even though I swear I'm not going to.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I always end up posting in these threads, even though I swear I'm not going to.

I know the feeling

 

[Fiona N]

I reckon this debate is like religionists v. atheists.

Helmet wearers (and especially compulsionists) being the equivalent of religionists, naturally, and trying to convert everyone else to their superstitions, whereas the atheists/non-helmet wearers (or mainly non-helmet wearers) don't actually care whether people wear helmets or not but do object to being lectured to by the former. Especially when the former claim greater insight/knowledge/morality etc. on the basis of their superstitions....



Now I will run away and hide for a few days

 

[Threelionsbrian]

I reckon this debate is like religionists v. atheists.

Helmet wearers (and especially compulsionists) being the equivalent of religionists, naturally, and trying to convert everyone else to their superstitions, whereas the atheists/non-helmet wearers (or mainly non-helmet wearers) don't actually care whether people wear helmets or not but do object to being lectured to by the former. Especially when the former claim greater insight/knowledge/morality etc. on the basis of their superstitions....



Now I will run away and hide for a few days

Surely the opposite, Religionists are off to a better place so don't worry about a helmet, whereas Atheists know better and wear one to hang around for a little longer.

 

[Threelionsbrian]

And no helmet burning threats

 

[PpPete]

I reckon this debate is like religionists v. atheists.

Helmet wearers (and especially compulsionists) being the equivalent of religionists, naturally, and trying to convert everyone else to their superstitions, whereas the atheists/non-helmet wearers (or mainly non-helmet wearers) don't actually care whether people wear helmets or not but do object to being lectured to by the former. Especially when the former claim greater insight/knowledge/morality etc. on the basis of their superstitions....



Now I will run away and hide for a few days

Disagree - reading this thread there are just as many helmet wearers who are decidely non-compulsionist ... they just don't post as often !


As for the anecdotal evidence .. I find it tiresome, because of its irrelevance.... but then I can't help noticing the comparative lack of anecdotal evidence from people who'se injuries have been more serious because they were wearing a helmet.

 

[ferret fur]

Hmm.... Anecdotal evidence... One of the things in the Helmet Debate I find most problematic is the idea that as adults we should rely on making an 'informed choice' as to whether or not to wear a helmet. Well, without wishing to sound like a fanatic (gribble) I have a passing acquaintance with the arguments ( I was going to say facts) involved. Enough to wonder how anyone can think they can be fully informed enough to make a choice. The research which is there is contradictory, unconvincing & subject to a lot of tendentious reasoning. Being someone who on the whole thinks it is better to wear a helmet I make no bones about the fact that I do it based on my experience as a cyclist (or anecdote), but I'm pretty darn sure that those who don't wear helmets do so on the same basis.
Let me put it this way. At some point in the debate Cunobelin will rock up with his 'cycling is safer than walking' diatribe & maybe present a picture of a ThudguardTM' . At this point I notice that 5 times as many pedestrians as cyclists are killed each year & then I think, 'but on any given day I see far more peds than cyclists': no idea how many but certainly significantly more than 5 times... I would thefore conclude that either the accident rates are misleading or I just don't notice all the cyclists out there. I can suggest some ideas as to why the figures are wrong but I've no way of knowing how valid they are. This before you start getting down to whether your own personal risk rate is above or below the average. What it boils down to is that I base my decsion on what I experience on the road every day..... or on anecdotes if you prefer.

 

[ufkacbln]

And no helmet burning threats

Helmets don't even manage to do this well!

Helmet Melting threats are possible.

 

[ufkacbln]

Hmm.... Anecdotal evidence... One of the things in the Helmet Debate I find most problematic is the idea that as adults we should rely on making an 'informed choice' as to whether or not to wear a helmet. Well, without wishing to sound like a fanatic (gribble) I have a passing acquaintance with the arguments ( I was going to say facts) involved. Enough to wonder how anyone can think they can be fully informed enough to make a choice. The research which is there is contradictory, unconvincing & subject to a lot of tendentious reasoning. Being someone who on the whole thinks it is better to wear a helmet I make no bones about the fact that I do it based on my experience as a cyclist (or anecdote), but I'm pretty darn sure that those who don't wear helmets do so on the same basis.
Let me put it this way. At some point in the debate Cunobelin will rock up with his 'cycling is safer than walking' diatribe & maybe present a picture of a ThudguardTM' . At this point I notice that 5 times as many pedestrians as cyclists are killed each year & then I think, 'but on any given day I see far more peds than cyclists': no idea how many but certainly significantly more than 5 times... I would thefore conclude that either the accident rates are misleading or I just don't notice all the cyclists out there. I can suggest some ideas as to why the figures are wrong but I've no way of knowing how valid they are. This before you start getting down to whether your own personal risk rate is above or below the average. What it boils down to is that I base my decsion on what I experience on the road every day..... or on anecdotes if you prefer.

...and the point that is missed is simple

If helmets work we would save 5 times as many people if pedestrians also wore helmets

Surely this is a worthwhile aim?

Is there some reason why pedestrian head injuries are somehow acceptable,less traumatic or have less effect on relatives and carers.

 

[ferret fur]

...and the point that is missed is simple

If helmets work we would save 5 times as many people if pedestrians also wore helmets

Surely this is a worthwhile aim?

Is there some reason why pedestrian head injuries are somehow acceptable,less traumatic or have less effect on relatives and carers.

Nope. We are talking about relative risk: very few people die skydiving, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't wear a parachute. Lots of people die while walking. This, perhaps, is a function of the number of people who do it. The nub of the question is whether cycling is high risk enough to justify wearing a helmet. My own opinion is that it is & I base this on my everday experience. I would rather have incontrovertible fact either way. But it doesn't exist.

 

[Hover Fly]

Looks like you might be a bit late with the melon idea looking at these bad-ass dudes

Thats it. If helmets are ever made compulsory that's how mine will be painted. Or alternatively as a ladybird.

 

[PalmerSperry]

Thats it. If helmets are ever made compulsory that's how mine will be painted. Or alternatively as a ladybird.

How about making ones covered with a large wig? If enough people where to do this then eventually the police would get tired of stopping people who they thought where not wearing a helmet who actually where, and then we could all stop bothering!

 

[screenman]

It is funny how many non wearers of helmets wear track mits.