Skiing vs cycling

[PK99]

I'm not dissembling. ...

yes you are.

I'll take you back to my original post on this:

Rotational injury.... No documented case of it ever having happened only academic speculation that it might occur

Maybe I am wrong and there are documented cases of it having happened to a real cyclist.

You clearly know there are. Care to enlighten us so that the issue can be put to rest?

 

[sazzaa]

Stuff "feel safer". What's the reality? There's oodles of statistics out there, and oodles of links on this forum alone proving (without a shadow of a doubt) that cycling is a very low risk activity.
[edit]
Sod that. I'm not giving you a get-out. Here's an excellent place to start:
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/the-risks-of-cycling.146101/#post-2849822

I don't give a flying f*ck about statistics, I'm more concerned about what my neurons and my instincts are telling me right here right now, i.e. real life.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I am all for helmet use, particularly when trying to discuss how safe cycling is with some people..........

 

[Linford]

Follow the links and read the research. It's all in there.

It's only $45 to read the sources....perhaps you can get it for us and paste it up for 'perusal'.....it could of course be any old bollocks

 

[Linford]

No, that is a ludicrous non matching comparison. We have done this before and I am positive you have a straight answer in you somewhere.

OK, put them on to climb the stairs. Do you think that is a fair comparison and if not, why not ?

 

[Linford]

I reckon I'm setting a much better example by just cycling without a load of entirely unnecessary paraphernalia and obviously enjoying it. The only ones moaning are those trying to project their fears onto others. Wear a helmet (or a St Christopher) if it makes you feel safer, and leave the rest of us alone.

The public at large do not see that...what they see is cyclists as a group with a proportion of risk takers on BSO's, and a proportion of sensible and keen riders. You and those who follow your example are most likely seen as all the gear and no idea in relation to however you might want to protect the most valuable organ in your body....however much you protest the semantics of some random study done on the far side of the world and the health benefits which cycling brings.
However good you think you are, you cannot control the actions of others. I have been in cars over the years where the risks which the drivers take have beggared belief.....truly scary....not because of the speeds which they have been doing which would on the motorway not raise an eyebrow, but because of where they have been doing it....mostly young, mostly men, mostly showing off (but there was a couple of women). If they have no idea what is around the next corner (and I have seen that to be the case as a passenger), then the last place you would want to be is on the other side of that corner as a cyclist, horserider, motorcyclist or even another car driver.

 

[Linford]

Once you accept that bicycle helmets are not 'car proof', this thread, is really, very, simple.

And 'your car' is not 'my car' proof if they were to come together....but you'd be better protected in your car than if you were on foot on 2 wheels.

MisterP called a similar concept many times in the 'planet saving' threads 'Mitigation'

 

[jonesy]

No, but they are less blameworthy... Clearly you misunderstand the real purpose of a helmet!

 

[Linford]

You seem to have avoided addressing the walking and driving issues. Come on now Linf, you can do this. Why helmets for cycling but not the other two? What is the basis for the decision?

Walking....I walk on the pavements and not on the roads....when I do walk on the roads, I walk facing the traffic on the RHS, if one gets close, I can step onto the pavement...as a cyclist you do not have that luxury..you just hope and pray that the car isn't being driven by a nobber trying to test your nerve...I had one today...he then claimed to be a member of the CTC after he tried to put me on the pavement on a 2 way road as I was riding up it HERE and then claimed I didn't have a right to be cycling up it because it was a 1 way road (in his head)....what do you think (honestly), and realistically...if another 'cycling enthusiast' can treat me with such contempt because he has such a feeling of righteousness whilst on 4 wheels, what chance do you have with a non cycling idiot overtaking and looking to give a punishment pass down some back lane with no witnesses ?
A lid isn't a magic shield..nobody is claiming that, but it may well help to mitigate against a much greater injury.....that is very much the case for motorcyclists and nobody is arguing against the value of lid use for bikers.

Driving....if I were in competitive motorsport and had a roll cage 6" from my head...absolutely I would...as it is, my runaround has 6 air bags in it...2 of them in the A pillars at head height, 2 of them in the doors by the B pillars, 2 of them in the dash and steering wheel as well as seat belt pre-tensioners. They provide a heck of a lot more protection than the big fat zero you are relying on when cycling....would you be happy if you knew that a car you were being conveyed in had the SRS system deliberately disabled ?

 

[Linford]

Lets take two cyclists, one wears a helmet the other doesn't. Both cyclists are in similar accidents and are hit on the head by a car doing 30mph+.

Is the cyclist with the helmet any less dead?

You are making the assumption that a 30mph collision = death irrespective of what is worn.
I was following my mate when he T-boned a car at 60. His lid hit the road at that speed....I saw it happen, I clocked the speed, I was a material witness in the case, he stated afterwards that indeed it was his head which was the body part which impacted the road first..he has no head and no neck injuries. Lids work

 

[Linford]

This motorcycle story is no less irrelevant than last time.

What you find inconvenient, you choose to ignore....this statement is no less relevant than the last time i cited it...

 

[PK99]

Lets take two cyclists, one wears a helmet the other doesn't. Both cyclists are in similar accidents and are hit on the head by a car doing 30mph+.

Is the cyclist with the helmet any less dead?

A more frequent scenario, is likely to be : 2 cars travelling at 30mph knock two cyclists off their bikes. Each cyclist's head hits the ground at some unknown speed between 30 and zero mph. which cyclist is likely to be at greater risk of head injury: Helmeted or unhelmeted?

 

[sazzaa]

That is just sad.

Well thankfully I'm not too fussed what an internet random thinks about how i live my life, how i listen to my own head and how i react to things. Don't lose sleep over it luv.

 

[Linford]

Pages of research of 'real world' academic study, all for nowt.... because Linf has a mate on a motorbike.

That's me sold. I'm sat in a motorbike lid as I type.

This isn't hearsay though. This is actual events, and material witnesses (me). I clocked the speed (digi speedo on a then 2 year old bike with 3k on the clock), I was behind him when he parted company with the bike. He noted the point of contact with the road and that is on record...that was his head...the driver pleaded guilty to undue care when it went to court...he could do little else with the weight of evidence which I supplied as a prime witness....now you can either believe, disbelieve or ask my mate what happened. He picked up life changing injuries, but not to his head, not to his neck. He is on my FB list if you want corroboration. He'd be happy to give an account of the events. He would have nothing to gain or lose by discussing it with you.

 

[Linford]

Motorcycle lids might very well work but they are not cycle helmets, thus irrelevant to this discussion.

Can you tell us what the specific differences are between the two types when presenting with an impact to the frontal lobes (head first over the bars) ?

Bear in mind that all the lids I've owned over the last 15-20 years have been very well vented over the top of the skull...so much so, I have to keep the vents closed for much of the year when using them to stop getting a chill.