The CycleChat Helmet Debate Thread

[Mugshot]

UK male, middle-aged, full kit plonkers, apeing the pro-peleton, and, of course, wearing helmets almost to a man, with attendant macho-posturing, whilst bumbling through the Surrey Pembrokeshire Hills slightly faster than asthmatic donkey, and worst off all, needlessly braking on the descents... No, let's not go there.

I hope I am forgiven on account of my Aldi gear and no lid policy

*I've also got blackcurrant squash in my bottle and I don't carry gels!

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I was 50/50, thinking maybe a helmet could help prevent serious head injury but it would appear I have been misled by manufacturers whose sole aim is to profiteer by being conservative with the truth.

Exactly. When you think about it, has any cycle helmet manufacturer ever made life-saving claims about its product in its adverts? Has any helmet manufacturer ever used one of those ubiquitous "smashed helmet but I survived" stories to endorse its own product?

I'm not anti-helmet, merely anti-compulsion; and I include in that people who question my sanity for not wearing one.

GC

 

[steveindenmark]

After my big off last year. I cannot say for sure that my helmet saved my life. What I can say for certain that it saved me from serious gravel rash to my face and head. The amount of plastic that was taken off the helmet and peak by the road surface could well have meant losing my nose or chin completely.

I wore my helmet some days and not others. I wear it every day now.

 

[mjr]

And the provision doesn't extend to safe junctions. Copenhagen hook anyone?

Do you mean the hook turn? A cycling infrastructure concept that Norwich decided was a brilliant idea they wanted to implement in the 1990s I see the one I used most (at a T rather than a crossroads) has lost its road signs now https://goo.gl/maps/UghdXyV2HRQ2 - maybe hostile infrastructure like that and the other favourite of blind turns with walls both sides at the bottoms of descents into badly-positioned underpasses helps explain why helmet-wearing seems more common in Norwich than Cambridge or the fens.

In the UK, something like 40% of folk ride bikes. I forget the exact number, but I'm ball-park right.

15% according to the Active People Survey (the measure they use is who rode in the 4 weeks preceeding being asked).

How long is a typical UK bike commute, do we know? Does it vary, markedly in urban, suburban and rural/cross-country contexts. (Mine was small town to small town 20km each way, when I ride solo in the UK now I consider it a miracle I survived.)

I don't think it's possible to answer that exactly from https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/walking-and-cycling-statistics but we know that the median non-recreational ride length is 30mins-1hr (so includes shopping trips and so on) and I think I've read that the mean commute length is just under 30 minutes and doesn't vary much by travel mode (distance does but not time). The Active People Survey report suggests that there's not much difference in utility cycling between urban and rural areas.

I ask because, in an attempt to get modal share up 50%, the authorities here are building so-called bicycle highways. Those I have explored are a mixed bag tbh, some off road, some just paint, but there are lots of them, lots of folk using them and some are over 20km long.

Even poor cycle tracks seem to be attractive as long as they don't have gaps in them which people feel are too dangerous to deal with (such as basically vanishing across a spiral-laned 60mph roundabout junction, to name one example I know). I suggest that it's partly because they are perceived as safer (whether or not they are) and people don't feel that they're being hassled by overtaking motorists all the time, and partly because they are a permanent advertisement that cycling is seen as a viable way to travel that route.

So what's that to do with helmets? Helmets are currently perceived to be safer (whether or not they are) but are a permanent advertisement that cycling is seen as a dangerous activity?

 

[mjr]

Exactly. When you think about it, has any cycle helmet manufacturer ever made life-saving claims about its product in its adverts?

I think manufacturers only imply that they are life-saving by emphasising features like "multi-impact protection systems" and so on, leaving it to careless retailers and foolish helmet advocates to make the life-saving claims for them... which reminds me, to return to the test case that @Justinslow gave us, of a Kask being advertised as being able to "prevent injuries" and so on, which I reported to the Advertising Standards Agency. I think I left it here:

And actually, I note that the extra "prevent injuries" claims no longer appear on http://www.rutlandcycling.com/331035/products/2015-kask-mojito-helmet---brazil.aspx or similar pages where it used to be, so I'll see what the ASA final reply is, but does that mean Rutland couldn't support that claim?

And that final reply included: "They have given us their undertaking that they will remove the claim ... they will ensure any future similar claims are supported by adequate evidence. ... Because Rutland Water Cycling Ltd has already assured us that the advertising you complained about will be amended, we consider there is little to be gained from continuing with a formal investigation, which would achieve that same outcome."

So there you have it: they had no evidence that the Kask Mojito performs excellently in crash situations or can prevent injuries. I suspect it merely passes the bog standard tests and all else is marketing.

Has any helmet manufacturer ever used one of those ubiquitous "smashed helmet but I survived" stories to endorse its own product?

Why would they want to associate their product with failed cycling?

 

[martint235]

After my big off last year. I cannot say for sure that my helmet saved my life. What I can say for certain that it saved me from serious gravel rash to my face and head. The amount of plastic that was taken off the helmet and peak by the road surface could well have meant losing my nose or chin completely.

I wore my helmet some days and not others. I wear it every day now.

How does a cycling helmet protect your chin unless it's a full face MTB one?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Why would they want to associate their product with failed cycling?

That was kinda my point but the majority of people see such a total failure of the helmet as proof that it worked. The helmet manufacturers know better.

which reminds me, to return to the test case that @Justinslow gave us, of a Kask being advertised as being able to "prevent injuries" and so on, which I reported to the Advertising Standards Agency.

I once had a dubious claim in a helmet advert removed by the ASA; it was for the Las Victory Supreme which, at £189.99, stated -
"Don't take Jake or Jill's example and break your crown, instead wear the Las Victory Supreme crown with pride and joy and ride in absolute safety".

GC

 

[newfhouse]

How long is a typical UK bike commute, do we know? Does it vary, markedly in urban, suburban and rural/cross-country contexts. (Mine was small town to small town 20km each way, when I ride solo in the UK now I consider it a miracle I survived.)

I ask because, in an attempt to get modal share up 50%, the authorities here are building so-called bicycle highways. Those I have explored are a mixed bag tbh, some off road, some just paint, but there are lots of them, lots of folk using them and some are over 20km long. My work colleagues coming in from the southern edges of Amager must be doing ?7km? Each way.

Like Strava data, this and this are self selecting subsets of a subset. They do show that more than half of commutes are longer than 9 miles. I don't know if the CC survey is a single leg or round trip distance. I'm sure TFL will have data but I haven't found anything meaningful yet.

Anecdotally, my colleagues at work who regularly ride between 11 and 18 miles each way wear cycle specific clothes and those who do 2 to 5 miles wear civvies. Nobody cycles between 6 and 10 miles. We have safe bike storage, lockers, showers, and no on site parking for private cars. Perhaps as a result, cyclists account for about 9% of the workforce. I am the only person to ride without a helmet and have often been told I'm asking for a brain injury. Which is nice.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

How does a cycling helmet protect your chin unless it's a full face MTB one?

I suppose it's possible that the level of friction was high enough that it kept the head rotated forward and the chin off the ground.

GC

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I am the only person to ride without a helmet and have often been told I'm asking for a brain injury. Which is nice.

Oh. That one. So charming. I reply, truthfully, that I already have one. Perhaps I should have worn a cycle helment when playing rugby?

 

[RichK]

Does anybody know of any recent stats for the proportion of people who ride with/without a helmet in the UK?

 

[newfhouse]

How does a cycling helmet protect your chin unless it's a full face MTB one?

 

[mjr]

Does anybody know of any recent stats for the proportion of people who ride with/without a helmet in the UK?

The most recent UK stat I've seen was in European Transport Safety Council Performance Index Flash 29 (2015), at 34% in 2008 - it's not been measured since the austerity coalition government came in in 2010 AFAIK.

I think it's falling as we get more people starting to ride town and hybrid cycles - I recently did my first decent-length ride for a very long time here without seeing an adult helmet user, maybe the first in about 20 years - so who's going to pay for measure it now? If helmet advocates do, they probably won't publish if it's fallen, and I think most freedom advocates think there's more important things to measure.

 

[benb]

What I can say for certain that it saved me from serious gravel rash to my face and head.

I think that's fair enough, and if people decide that a bit of road rash is worth the inconvenience of wearing a helmet, that's up to them.

It's interesting though that helmet advocates never suggest wearing a helmet in order to prevent road rash or minor injuries.

 

[Scoosh]

ANOTHER MOD NOTE (or another note from a Mod)
Some more posts have been Deleted.
This is very specifically the Helmet Debate thread, so please do not go wandering off into the countryside counting the number of helmet wearers/non-wearers and reporting your findings here. It adds nothing to the debate, which is repetitive enough as it is.

It could be useful for anyone posting to re-read the Special Rules that apply to the Helmet Debate thread.
It would be very beneficial if everyone kept to those Rules too ...

Thank you.