The CycleChat Helmet Debate Thread

[MichaelW2]

60% of the time, helmets work every time.

 

[PMarkey]

60% of the time, helmets work every time.

Based on what evidence ? as I could argue the fact that I have unfortunately had two visits to the major trauma unit in the last 2 years with zero head injury thereby proving that a cotton cap is 100% effective in protecting against head injury .

 

[simongt]

A point in case is that every accident is unique and it's impossible to predict the type / nature of any injuries sustained as there are far too many variables. We can all argue statistics 'til we're blue in the face; there will always be someone who 'knows better.' Any p.p.e. or other; clothing, riding style or whatever that may help negate some of the outcome of any accident has to be a good thing.
It rather boils down to folk doing what they personally and indvidually feel comfortable with in reducing the likelyhood of any accident and its consequences.

 

[Milkfloat]

Based on what evidence ? as I could argue the fact that I have unfortunately had two visits to the major trauma unit in the last 2 years with zero head injury thereby proving that a cotton cap is 100% effective in protecting against head injury .

The 60% of the time you are not falling off, scared of falling off or worried about your hair.

 

[mjr]

Any p.p.e. or other; clothing, riding style or whatever that may help negate some of the outcome of any accident has to be a good thing.

So you're riding in full downhill MTB body armour in high summer? Or maybe it's not that any PPE has to be a good thing...

That's the sort of thinking that saw helmets pushed onto boxers and american footballers and head injuries soar. :-(

 

[classic33]

So you're riding in full downhill MTB body armour in high summer? Or maybe it's not that any PPE has to be a good thing...

That's the sort of thinking that saw helmets pushed onto boxers and american footballers and head injuries soar. :-(

Have you worn body armour, cycling based, at any time of the year to make that comment. Then explain why & what it has to do with cycling helmets alone being worn.

I have, both with and without the full face helmet & HANS device. SixSixOne do some very good body armour.

 

[Sharky]

I described earlier what the trigger was for being a convert to a helmet wearer. Namely an over the bars fall, caused by brushing against some innocent foliage that lassoed my handle bars and turned them 90 degrees. Not wearing a helmet as was the norm for me for the previous 40 years, but that fall, together with a few other falls in the last 15 convinced me that I was getting more prone to falling off and at 68, it begins to hurt.

However, there have been a few other events in my lifetime that comes to mind that I think of whenever the discussions on helmets start
- The first goes back to my childhood and a boyhood friend Geoffrey. Our mothers were friends and I knew him from the age of two and throughout our school life. Both our dads were keen cyclists, riding for the same club. But alas, Geoffrey's dad was killed when he rode into the back of a vehicle when he was out training, in 1949, before we were both born. Geoffrey never knew his father. I doubt that a helmet would have made any difference, but there is always a tiny thought that if might have done.
- The second event was in 1967 or 1968. I was riding a 25 on the J14 course. Off in front of me about 10 minutes was a young rider. Halfway round the course I passed him, lying on the ground with a stream of blood around him and people trying to help. He had gone into the back of a parked car. At the finish, I can still see the drained face of his father. Helmets were never used in those days and again doubt if it would have saved him, but... ????
- Lastly, the daughter of one of my friends was a toddler at the time (4yrs old) and was running ahead and tripped. Hit her head and suffered brain damage and spent her life in a special care home/hospital. This was a non cycling incident and of course helmets were never considered, but for me it makes me realise how vulnerable we all are and we never get a second chance to try again.

These incidents were never enough to convince me to wear a helmet when they happened or for the first 40 yrs of my cycling days, but for me are now very much in my mind and collectively all these incidents have persuaded me to convert to wearing a helmet.

 

[mickle]

A point in case is that every accident is unique and it's impossible to predict the type / nature of any injuries sustained as there are far too many variables. We can all argue statistics 'til we're blue in the face; there will always be someone who 'knows better.' Any p.p.e. or other; clothing, riding style or whatever that may help negate some of the outcome of any accident has to be a good thing.
It rather boils down to folk doing what they personally and indvidually feel comfortable with in reducing the likelyhood of any accident and its consequences.

If only it was that simple. We currently have a culture where its considered 'irresponsible' for publications to feature images of cyclists without helmets, where schools will not allow children to cycle or scoot to school without a helmet, a culture which tells us at every opportunity that cycling is a dangerous activity. The rack of helmets for sale in e ery bike shop reinforces this notion with every visit. We know that the health benefits of cycling outweigh the dangers by a factor of 20/1 - but what we're being told is that cycling is dangerous. Your call for us all to make our own individual decision on the subject is right of course, but it's clear as day to me that people are making the decision to wear a helmet based on misinformation. And we all know what happens when a population makes decisions based on partial information, misinformation and lies.

And this. The great majority of collisions between motor vehicles and cyclists the cyclist is not at fault. Cycling isn't dangerous, cars are dangerous to cyclists. The fair and reasonable answer to the problem of the danger posed to cyclists from drivers isn't to armour the cyclist, it's the removal of the danger. We can do that through driver education, more assertive legislation, better infrastructure design, reduced speed limits, presumed liability etc. etc. Wearing a pissy little plastic helmet, whose manufacturer makes no claims about its effectiveness, is a not very sticky sticking plaster on a gaping wound. It might seem to fix the problem - but all that it's doing is covering it up.

 

[Moderators]

Mod Note:
some posts on this thread should really be on the CC helmet debate tread, pinned on top of the board.
This thread is about posters' motives on deciding to start wearing a helmet when they didn't wear one before.
Evidence pro/against can be posted on the main thread.
As always:
Please be respectful of other people's opinions and choices and be considerate in your replies.
Thank you.

 

[mjr]

As always, please refrain from making sarcastic remarks on what is, at the moment, an entirely personal decision.

I posted earlier why I feel it's not an entirely personal decision https://www.cyclechat.net/posts/5484729 .

 

[pawl]

I have worn a helmet for the last fourty years.

A news item on Central news reported on the member of a family was advocating legislation after a relative died after he was hit by a tractor,despite wearing a helmet,high viz clothing and using lights..with all these precautions the driver still did not see him.Legislation or not i will continue to wear a helmet ⛑ that is my choice but I am aware that wearing a helmet is not going to ave my life if I am hit by several tons of metal being driven by some myopic prat.

 

[pawl]

Not sure

Spills in 64 & 67 with just a few grazes, then nothing for 35 years.

Then between 2005 and 2017, 8 spills, resulting in a few bruises, two broken collor bones, fractured pelvis, broken tooth and a few facial cuts needing stitches. Oh and with one of the spills, I was airlifted to hospital.

So what's my percentage?

This is where I stop reading this thread befor I start considering to sell my bikes

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I have worn a helmet for the last fourty years.

A news item on Central news reported on the member of a family was advocating legislation after a relative died after he was hit by a tractor,despite wearing a helmet,high viz clothing and using lights..with all these precautions the driver still did not see him.Legislation or not i will continue to wear a helmet ⛑ that is my choice but I am aware that wearing a helmet is not going to ave my life if I am hit by several tons of metal being driven by some myopic prat.

What were helmets like in the 1970s? Do you have a picture to share? Did not even know they existed back then.

 

[pawl]

I worked on a neurological ward and was discussing the use of helmets in cycling.His opinion was that while a helmet will possibly go a long way to prevent surface injuries.A fast moving head hits a solid object,the head stops but the brain is not securely held within the head so when the head sops suddenly the makes contact with the skull which causes brain injury..

Can see the reasoning in this when boxers often experience this.Soccer players of a few decades ago headed those heavy leather footballs.

 

[pawl]

What were helmets like in the 1970s? Do you have a picture to share? Did not even know they existed back then.

Unable to rember the exact decade .I do rember it was a bright yellow thing . Ptior to that it was the old leather thing.Looked like a load of sausages strung together Always wore it on the local chain gang rides.