Pro-helmet article on BBC One Show right now

[Midnight]

I have yet to try cycling with a long wig underneath my helmet, to see how that affects the distance I am afforded by overtaking drivers.

Try one of THESE, Norm

 

[Norm]

Try one of THESE, Norm

Cheers, midnight, but I've got one of these and I think they'd clash...

(BTW, that's a stock image, I don't look anything like that underneath it )

 

[HLaB]

I have yet to try cycling with a long wig underneath my helmet, to see how that affects the distance I am afforded by overtaking drivers.

You've read the Walker report, although I think he used a blonde wig not the pink one pictured above.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

(BTW, that's a stock image, I don't look anything like that underneath it )

Found the one of you, Norm!

 

[Peter91]

I think it's safe to say that after nearly 230 posts, we have came to the logical conclusion that all cyclists should wear motorcycle helmets.

 

[rich p]

Bit of a liberty Norm. Arch did this to me in copyright some years ago!

 

[Norm]

Found the one of you, Norm!

Git.

OK, you made me do it... posting this on CC is not my fault...

I think it rather suits me.

 

[Jezston]

Well hello there!

 

[Red Light]

My worst ever fall was at low speed, and the ambulance man did tell me I should have been wearing a helmet. It was similar to a clipless fail - on ice, very slow, front wheel wiped out, I went down hard on my hip and broke it. Pins, several days in hospital, three months on crutches. My hip hit the ground first, followed by my shoulder/arm (also hurt a lot, but that recovered), and my head not at all. Interestingly I appear to have managed to fail to put my hand out to catch it - a broken collar bone would probably have been a better outcome.
.

I know two other people who broke their hips like that on ice. Neither had head injuries but I don't know whether they were helmets or not although one is almost certainly not. Mandatory body armour when it's icy?

 

[youngoldbloke]

I know two other people who broke their hips like that on ice. Neither had head injuries but I don't know whether they were helmets or not although one is almost certainly not. Mandatory body armour when it's icy?

'It's selfish not to'

 

[Red Light]

i do risk assessments daily. simply consider this, how likely is it ill fall off,, and if i do how serious is it likely to be.

I'd love to see your risk assessment for walking journeys. If you are working on a logical risk assessed basis I fail to see why you don't wear one walking. I'd also be interested in your professional opinion on risk mitigating with safety equipment whose specification is woefully insufficient for most of the risks being mitigated.

Or you could be honest and say you wear one because you want to which I'd have no problem with as opposed to the faux Elfin Safety mumbo jumbo.

 

[david k]

I'd love to see your risk assessment for walking journeys. If you are working on a logical risk assessed basis I fail to see why you don't wear one walking. I'd also be interested in your professional opinion on risk mitigating with safety equipment whose specification is woefully insufficient for most of the risks being mitigated.

Or you could be honest and say you wear one because you want to which I'd have no problem with as opposed to the faux Elfin Safety mumbo jumbo.

as the severity of a fall is likely to be less than a fall from a cycle then i judge walking not worthy of wearing a helmet. I think this is also the opinion of the majority, i often see cyclists with helmets on, I dont think I have ever seen a walker with a helmet on

Risk assessments dont have to be written, they can be done in your head, i guess people do them all the time without knowing it. H&S laws have just given it a name now

 

[MarkF]

if thats your view i respect it, shame you cannot afford me the same coutesy

"Intransigent" was not abusive, anyway, my replies concerned views aired by "Snorri", that I agreed with, but that you called " a load of rubbish"! You continue with the Health & Safety book of revelations.

 

[Bromptonaut]

My own rationale is as follows:

Pretty firmly in the won’t camp. Certainly not on a Boris Bike, not on my Brompton & not on my tourer. If I rode the mountain bike seriously off road I might think about it, but not on tracks, bridleways etc.

I'm now 50 & I've toured and utility biked since 1974. I like the wind in my hair and I prefer my peripheral vision unobstructed. I don't like, even subliminally, the idea of my hearing being affected and I've never found a helmet that was comfortable and didn't need me to fiddle with it while riding & with my glasses while putting it on/taking it off. If I needed to carry it while off the bike on trains etc. I'd loose two a year.

The biggest risks I face are from HGV's and stupid car drivers - neither is massively mitigated by a helmet.

If I'm wrong and spend the later years of my life gibbering and living on soup the first 50 have been OK. And I'm far more likely to get that disabling head injury in my car or walking home from the pub.

The obits for Laurent Fignon showed him joyously riding 'Le Tour' bareheaded with his ponytail streaming in the wind; he died of Cancer.

For other people YMMV.

Having said all that I’m doing the L2B next month. My fag packet risk assessment says there’s a high probability of a contact accident & a tumble. I might make an exception for that event.

 

[on the road]

H&S laws have just given it a name now

It's called red tape