No helmet

[frazerlaing]

Helmets

I am a 38 year old slightly overweight commuter attempting to get fit!!! Since I got married five years ago my wife has nagged me into wearing my crash helmet whenever I even look at my bike. I now ride to work, Bromley to Brixton, a distance of 8.5 miles. I enjoy the ride and feel that it must be doing me some good in the fitness department. On Tuesday 20th may this year I was riding down the fastest part of my route in Forest Hill, London. According to my speedometer it acheived heady speed of 28mph. As I got to this speed a school child stepped off the pavement right in front of me. I slammed both breaks on and attempted to swerve out of her way. Luckily I missed her but unfortunately my fromt wheel caught a pot-hole and caterpaulted me over the handle bars head first onto the road. I sit hear now typing this with one arm as the other is broken - my left legg cannot be bent and I have a large area of nerve damage to the top of my knee and I may not regain the feeling there fully. I do however have some good news I will not need to have my arm pinned together but I may never be able to straighten it again. The cut above my eye is healing nicely and the grazing on my right shoulder is improving!

What has this rambling got to do with helmets I hear you cry!!!

I did not land hands, arms, legs, shoulders or chest first I landed head first at aproximately 28mph.

Yes I cut my head, yes I had a bloody sore head for about 3 days and yes the rest of me is not looking to clever... But I am able to type this because I had a helmet on. I do not hope to convert anyone to start wearing a helmet but I do want to pass on to all of you what the paramedic and the ambulance crew who scraped me off the road said...

"If you did not have your helmet on we would not be driving to hospital so fast a you would probably not have survived!

As I have said above there was a paramedic and an ambulance crew in attendance along with them the police attended and a doctor and the road was closed for approximately 15 minutes. I think it is safe to say it was quite a serious accident. I am not telling anyone this to show off or to say it is clever to go down hills on main roads really fast because it is not. I just want everyone to know what happend to me and that my helmet saved my life.

 

[Spin City]

Frazerlaing: I had just finished my post when I saw your post appear. Anyway, I'm just passing on my best wishes to you on your road to recovery. It was just so different to read something concrete (excuse the pun) rather than all the hypothetical stuff I've been posting about for the last few days. Wishing you well.

 

[frazerlaing]

Thanks for your kind words Spin City!! Can I apologise for any typos up above but I am finding it a little tricky typing funnily enough!!

Just one other point I do believe it should be a personal choice for adults but maybe compulsory for children.

 

[Jaded]

Jaded: Yes, sorry about the slant on my questions. You are correct that the debate should be about carefully selected worded questions. Notwithstanding this, do you have any views on the sort of questions I was posing?

In reponse to your post:-
I think my question "Is the wearing of helmets by cyclists beneficial to them if they are involved in an incident?" could be answered Yes, No, Only in the following circumstances, etc but that's almost getting as pedantic as you.
I think my question "How can helmets be improved upon to increase the safety of cyclists?" necessarily implies that the cyclist would have to be wearing the helmet at the time of an incident. You could, of course, raise questions about the fit of the helmet and how well it was secured etc.

No, this question implies that all cyclists would benefit from helmets. Which is not the case. Which is why I changed the question.

--

How about:

Why has helmet wearing become such a big issue amongst those looking at cyclist safety when it never used to be an issue and there wasn't an epidemic of head injuries, despite a massively higher level of cycling amongst the population?

--

or even more radical:

Are we happy with the level of safety afforded to cyclists in this country?

if No,
then

What measures can be taken by our society to improve the safety of cyclists.

Who knows - helmets may not even reach the final shortlist.

 

[Chris James]

Baggy: Thanks for your reply. I have a number of comments to make on your response, as follows:-

Are you saying that there are circumstances when a cyclist would benefit more in a head impact if they weren't wearing a helmet? Alternatively, are you saying that a helmet wouldn't be beneficial at all if the wearer's head impacts against something at a higher speed than the helmet is designed to cope with (or that the benefit would be diminished)? Please elucidate.....

I'm not sure that wearing a helmet has a de-humanising effect on motor vehicle drivers although I think this may be a possible effect on some drivers. I'm not sure how how true this is or how it could be tested ....

Cunobelin has already said that helmets 10 years ago provided better protection than the ones currently on sale. However, I'm not sure where this information came from or how true it is. .....

You raise a very interesting question about the number of journeys made overall by bicycle. I personally think that if there were more cyclists on the road then there would be more crashes/accidents involving cyclists. This, if true, would lead to more discussion about the compulsion of wearing cycle helmets.
.

Spin City, you have the air of an ingenue on this thread. I am afraid the above points have been done to death many times over!! Most of the posters on here (including me) have posted the same facts, figures and views many times over the past few years. Thereby proving how fruitless the debate is.

But since you appear to be new to this debate, the stock answers to your questions above are:

1) Risk of rotational forces being introduced as the projecting helmet hits the ground and grabs, turning your neck.

2) The Bath Uni study whihc found that drivers pass closer to helmeted cyclists than to non helmeted riders.

3) The Snell testing standard and the fact that modern helmets are (mostly) only tested to the EN standard which sets a easier set of tests to pass. Helmets may perform beyond this standard but no-one would know as they are not tested beyond this. Additionally the push towards lighter and better ventilated helmets would tend towards less energy absorbing foam bieng used in the fabrication.

4) The observation that statistically the countries with the highest number of cylists see the fewest accidents per kilomtre cycled. This was equally true in the UK in the past when we had higher cycle participation. Of course it may be a chicken and egg situation - you are less likley to cycle if you think you will have an accident. Likewise, motorists are less able to deal with cyclists if they encounter few of them on the road.

Of course the stock answers are not necessarily corrrect, just those usually trotted out on helmet threads.

 

[4F]

Thanks for your kind words Spin City!! Can I apologise for any typos up above but I am finding it a little tricky typing funnily enough!!

Just one other point I do believe it should be a personal choice for adults but maybe compulsory for children.

Hi Frazerling, sorry to hear about your accident and injurys and I hope you recover soon.

I do not wear a helmet through choice and I am prepared to take my chances without as I honestly do not think the level of protection they give is anywhere near good enough.

You make an interesting point regarding compulsion with children. My wife an I have regular disagreements on the subject. I let mine (10, 8 and 4) choose whether they want to wear one or not and it is about 50 / 50 whether they do or not. My wife will insist they wear one whilst not wearing one herself !

In my opinion I believe that they put their lives in far more danger by leaping off the climbing frame and climbing trees etc so why do people never make them wear helmets for these activities ?

 

[Jaded]

Baggy: Thanks for your reply. I have a number of comments to make on your response, as follows:-

Are you saying that there are circumstances when a cyclist would benefit more in a head impact if they weren't wearing a helmet? Alternatively, are you saying that a helmet wouldn't be beneficial at all if the wearer's head impacts against something at a higher speed than the helmet is designed to cope with (or that the benefit would be diminished)? Please elucidate.


Incidentally, isn't wearing a helmet for horse riding compulsory nowadays? You'll have to confirm or otherwise.

A helmet makes a head bigger and heavier and more likely to catch on edges etc. Therefore a helmet makes you more likely to have a head impact. Quite apart from any risk compensation.

I believe horse helmets are only compulsory under 16?

 

[Chris James]

Hi Frazerlaing. My mate has broken his wrist three times (involving re pinning every time, K wires and once some sort of exo skeleton). The docs told him he may never be able be able to move his fingers properly but after physio he now has full use of his hands.

By the way, his accidents were cause by such extreme sports as falling off a log and tripping over a mat whilst on a dog training class!

So hopefully you will make a full recovery.

Anyway, onto the helmet issue. To me it makes sense that a helmet is likely to give some benefit in the event of hitting your head, although I wouldn't place too much weight on the views of the paramedics as they are unlikely to know enough about helmet design criteria, fracture mechanisms and the circumstances of your crash to make such blanket assertions.

I am glad you missed the little girl. I have to say that 28mph sounds a bit excessive if you were going alongside a pavement that is full of children. Defensive riding techniques are also helpful, like considering whether that child, dog or rabbit is likely to lurch across the road without warning. Or the old lady pull out of the junction in front of you since she looke dtrhough you without catching your eye when she glanced right, or if someone is likely to open the door of the parked car you are about to overtake.

Anyway, I dare say you know all this already. And I almost hit a cat when I was travelling at similar speed to you out on the moors above Holmfirth at the weekend. My cycling friend on the desk next to me once wrote off a wheel by running over a young rabbit that threw itself in front of his wheel.

When I commuted into Machester daily I always wore a helmet, despite it being an old sweaty Bell Snell certified effort as the downsides that I experienced (sweaty) were more than offset by the advantges that the helmet would hopefully afford me protection in the event of an accident.

However, for rides in the country I didn't bother as I considered the downside to be the same, but the benefit much reduced due to my perception of the risk of head injury being drastically reduced in that sort of riding.

 

[frazerlaing]

As I said in my earlier post I do not think doing 28 was big or clever but in my defence the road I was on has 2 lanes in either direction and the pavement is seperated by railings and I think the girl had gone through a gap in them. I had a bus about 300 yards ahead of me and a bus about 200 yards behind me so I think her behaviour was a little stupid in comparison to my speed but there we go. I was in a bus lane the traffic lights were on green and there was a crossing about 30 - 40 yards from where she was trying to cross.

I was not trying to suggest that the ambulance crew were experts but all I can say is 28 mph (rightly or wrongly) head first impact ( and I weigh the wrong side of 14 stone) would seem to me to = the possibilty of dribbling for the rest of my life.

I do find the helmet argument a tough one. I can assure you if the government tries to bring in legislation forcing people to wear them I will be the first to stand up and complain - as I said it should be a choice. For me the choice is now simple - my helmet sustained serious damage in the accident and my head did not. My next door neighbour has not and will not wear a helmet and I say good luck to him its his choice. I just wanted people to know what happened to me so they can make an informed choice.

Chris above writes about Snell testing which means nothing to me. All I can say is fast ride equalled head first crash and me wearing helmet = me still being here today - It worked for me.

Sadly I will not be buying a new helmet all that soon as Doc says looking at minimum another month before getting on the bike.

I cant argue with anything you say FatFella. You are right I am sure i did far more dangerous activities as a child.

 

[stephenb]

what claims do the major helmet manufacturers make about what their
products will protect you from?

 

[domtyler]

what claims do the major helmet manufacturers make about what their
products will protect you from?

Their helmets are guaranteed to make cycling feel safer.

 

[frazerlaing]

Maybe thats the point then - they make you feel safer. If and when I do manage to get back on my bike then I will feel safer even if in reality I am not. Saying that I do still think I was better off with one.

 

[Spin City]

My turn to respond to some, but not all, of the replies posted over the last couple of pages:

Jaded: This is a thread about helmet wearing and not about any of the other issues you raise. However, I agree with you that there are, without doubt, other 'things' that could be introduced that would improve the safety of cyclists but this thread is about whether cyclists should wear helmets. Furthermore, I don't think that ideas such as regular Driving Re-tests, compulsory cycle training for all 'able' drivers or whatever else we can dream up are ever going to be introduced by legislation. I also believe that there are things that cyclists can do for themselves that I would put above wearing a helmet, for example, learning how to ride safely and defensively, learning how to read the road and traffic conditions etc.
You really need to start a thread about "Improving Road Safety for Cyclists" to have a debate about all these other issues.
The issue of helmet wearing is about whether cyclists should wear them to improve their safety in the event of a particular type of crash/accident.
With reference to "A helmet makes a head bigger and heavier and more likely to catch on edges etc......." I personally don't believe that there is a statistically significant increase in probability of hitting your head with a helmet on against not wearing one.

Chris James: My only aim in this debate is to think about the benefits, or otherwise, of wearing a helmet and whether this should lead to an investigation/discussion about legislation to introduce some sort of compulsion.
In response to your posts:
I guess there has been a study of some sort about the effect on head/neck injuries due to the rotational forces caused by wearing a helmet.
After reading the BBC article on the University of Bath report I think I would agree that drivers are likely to drive closer to a cyclist who is wearing a helmet which I believe increases the level of danger to the cyclist. Driver education is the issue here and I guess this subject isn't currently taught to learner drivers, although I may be wrong.
The issue of helmet testing standards appears to be a real problem. Did all helemts have to pass the Snell test 10 years ago? If they did, why has the EN test superseded the Snell test? Do all helmets on sale in the UK have to pass the EN test? Is there a push by manufacturers or cycle safety organisations to increase the level of protection provided by helmets?
The statement "the fewest accidents per kilomtre cycled" needs to be looked into carefully. For example, if there were two countries with identical populations but the population of one of the countries (A) cycled twice as much as the other one ( then the number of crashes/accidents could be 1.999 more in country A than country B and your statement would still be true. However, the authorites in country A may still be more than concerned about the vastly increased number of cycling crashes/accidents in their country.

 

[MichaelM]

So what's the definitive answer then?

IGMC....

 

[Jaded]

I personally don't believe that there is a statistically significant increase in probability of hitting your head with a helmet on against not wearing one.

It's not about what you personally believe is it though.

Or am I being pedantic again?

Have a look at the evidence and you might change your personal beliefs.