The CycleChat Helmet Debate Thread

[Justinslow]

..... but there's not point at all in safety aids that don't aid safety !

Are you still ignoring the poster yesterday who hit his head on a branch and stated how his helmet saved him from injury? Why was he roundly ridiculed and told to avoid the branch in the first place? It was an accident.
As to the Australian studies, yes I have seen them, but what holds true in another quite different country may not hold true in Great Brirain, afteral their road systems are far superior to ours based more on American style grid systems, they have less population for a given land mass etc etc. Remember how young their society is in the greater scheme of things.

 

[Mugshot]

What about hitting the head whilst asleep!

Pillows, lots and lots of pillows, you can never have enough pillows.

 

[Justinslow]

Come to think of it there are countless differences with Australia, maybe they just have fewer idiots living there?

 

[classic33]

Pillows, lots and lots of pillows, you can never have enough pillows.

I've missed on too many occasions.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Mjray said earlier that he had perhaps ridden at over 30mph twice since he started riding, just checked my strava feed and the only rides I can find where I haven't ridden over 30mph are the rides with my kids!
Here's one - a pretty slow ride with a mate
View attachment 106046
Maybe I'm just really "dangerous".

Strava lies about maximum speed. I'm not sure why, but I'm a pootler who can probably do 20mph if I pedal hard, and it's clocked me at 49.8mph. I have no downhills on my commute.

 

[classic33]

Are you still ignoring the poster yesterday who hit his head on a branch and stated how his helmet saved him from injury? Why was he roundly ridiculed and told to avoid the branch in the first place? It was an accident.
As to the Australian studies, yes I have seen them, but what holds true in another quite different country may not hold true in Great Brirain, afteral their road systems are far superior to ours based more on American style grid systems, they have less population for a given land mass etc etc. Remember how young their society is in the greater scheme of things.

Check Safer Cycling Australia or Cycle out on fb, you don't have to be logged in.
Then come back and say your view remains unchanged.

Australia also happens to have large areas that have very few living in them. Making it an invalid comparison. Most of the population live around the perimiter.

 

[Justinslow]

Strava lies about maximum speed. I'm not sure why, but I'm a pootler who can probably do 20mph if I pedal hard, and it's clocked me at 49.8mph. I have no downhills on my commute.

Yes I know, I've seen people record "200 mph" but having competed in TT's I know mine are there or there abouts within a little, the stop watch does not lie.

 

[Mugshot]

I've missed on too many occasions.

I saw this thing the other day and though it looked awesome, it's a beanbag bed;

 

[mjr]

Are you still ignoring the poster yesterday who hit his head on a branch and stated how his helmet saved him from injury? Why was he roundly ridiculed and told to avoid the branch in the first place? It was an accident.

It looks like a misjudgement, rather than an "accident". Where was https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/the-cyclechat-great-helmet-debate.187059/post-3941763 "roundly ridiculed"? I'm failing to see it, but maybe that's just my brass neck.

 

[mjr]

As to the Australian studies, yes I have seen them, but what holds true in another quite different country may not hold true in Great Brirain

But equally it may, especially as Australian and Canadian cultures do have more in common with us here in "Brirain" than most. Alternatively, how would you explain British pedal cycle road casualties appearing to vary with little correlation with crash helmet wearing rates, as in the charts in post #465? It'd be lovely if you could answer the self-employed question ignored from that too.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Yes I know, I've seen people record "200 mph" but having competed in TT's I know mine are there or there abouts within a little, the stop watch does not lie.

Agreed, but I thought your post was about doing over 30mph - there are only 2 peaks on that graph over 30mph, and I'm not sure they are accurate.

 

[Justinslow]

To be more accurate, didn't he actually hit his helmet on a branch? So if he hadn't been wearing the helmet he might well have just gone underneath the killer branch unscathed.

Yes it's possible, just like he might have been looking at a fantasticly beautiful lady and it would have hit him squarely on the head at just the right height to do some serious damage to his head. You (like I) do not know the circumstances just what he stated.

 

[Justinslow]

But equally it may, especially as Australian and Canadian cultures do have more in common with us here in "Brirain" than most. Alternatively, how would you explain British pedal cycle road casualties appearing to vary with little correlation with crash helmet wearing rates, as in the charts in post #465? It'd be lovely if you could answer the self-employed question ignored from that too.

I haven't ignored it, I'm trying to earn a living and pop back to the forum when I can, sorry but I haven't got time to scroll back etc etc and pick the bones out of it yet.

 

[Profpointy]

Come to think of it there are countless differences with Australia, maybe they just have fewer idiots living there?

think about that for a minute - granted Australia is different in a lot of ways; safer, riskier, who knows? But surely helmets should still have a measurable effect on that risk - but they don't

 

[Justinslow]

Which included the phrase about near splitting the helmet in half, indicative of failure to have done very much protecting.

If the impact was sufficiently strong enough to split his helmet open and then glance off as he continued on his way due to his forward speed but not damage his head I would say his helmet did its job.