The CycleChat Helmet Debate Thread

[Justinslow]

So it doesn't matter if other people make the opposite choice without thinking about it.

Not at all- it's their choice. I wonder how many cyclists who ride without a helmet in Great Britain have actually studied the data or "evidence" from Australia or wherever, or do they they ride without a helmet because they always have ridden without one or do they not really "give it much thought"?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

[QUOTE 3995038, member: 45"]You're being a bit deceptive. They're not designed or tested for any particular type of accident. They're designed to protect the head against particular impact forces, which may or may not be experienced during a collision with a car, the floor, a wall, another bike, a truck,...[/QUOTE]
There's an excellent "why cycling helmets are pants and should not be used by equestrians" article on a very pro-equestrian helmet website in the states. Can't find the link right know but it basically said in the real world you'd have to try very very hard to have a fall in which a cycle helmet would work....

 

[Justinslow]

At least there is a glimmer of hope - Justin is actually looking at the evidence now.
All we need to do is get him to discard his confirmation bias and we might actually get somewhere.

But this is the point, I am happy wearing a helmet! I can pick whichever piece of scientific evidence or study I choose and follow it, or I can not bother and still wear a helmet, you can pick whichever "evidence" you prefer to follow, the bottom line is I still (mostly) wear a helmet. I don't need to be convinced or persuaded by you or anyone else to stop wearing helmets, I am taking responsibility for my own actions and am completely happy with that.

 

[glenn forger]

But you don't wear a helmet when traveling in a car or going in pubs, where head injuries are more likely. Your head is so precious and you show a careless attitude toward it and wear protection when you least need it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Not at all. If you would like to wear one as a fashion accessory go right ahead. What I want banned is people telling me I should be wearing a helmet when there's not a scrap of evidence to say it would make a difference in a crash.

^This. Even though I wear one from time to time. In situations where I judge it might have some utility.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Just look at the roads on an average Sunday morning. You will see any number of cyclists wearing team kit, complete with the correct helmet.

full kit *ankers?

 

[benb]

Not at all- it's their choice. I wonder how many cyclists who ride without a helmet in Great Britain have actually studied the data or "evidence" from Australia or wherever, or do they they ride without a helmet because they always have ridden without one or do they not really "give it much thought"?

Speaking purely for myself, I used to wear one, as it was "common sense" that they must help.
Then I started looking at the evidence, and considering why no one felt the need to wear helmets for other activities that carried a similar risk of head injury, and found that the evidence showed they were not significantly effective. As I found cycling without one much more enjoyable, I decided to stop wearing one.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

My view is that they probably help a bit in low impacts, particularly against minor cuts and bruises, but the likelihood of such an event happening is very remote in the first place, and the subset of those events where a helmet will turn a death into just a serious injury, or turn a serious injury into a minor one, are so vanishingly unlikely that they are simply undetectable amongst the statistical noise.

I like ^this post. I wear my helmet on occasions when I think it likely I will have a low speed off or hit a low branch off-road. Judgement of that likelihood is based on past experience.

A couple of Sundays ago I went for a ride wearing my helmet. Some in this thread saw me. I decided that not having ridden a bike with gears, spds, and with a British brake lever arrangement for six months it was likely I might take a low speed tumble. As I hurtled down Handcross Hill toward Staplefield at nearly 40mph I knew the piece of ceiling tile on my head would shatter in the event of an off but still gravity and adrenaline drove me on. Faster... faster...

As it turned out I was so glad of that helmet at the end of the ride after I had left the hallowed company and set off for home. On entering chez Grumpy, which I've only lived in for a relatively few days in the last six months, I had an urgent need of the lavatory. So urgent I commited the ghastly faux-pas of not removing my helmet the very instant I got off the bike. My mind was on more pressing matters and I completely forgot that the doorway to the downstairs toilet is only 6' high and I am 6' 2".

Smack.

Good job I was wearing a helmet. I shall recommend that all tall visitors to my humble abode wear a helmet from now on. I have compelling anecdata to prove the benefits of wearing one.

 

[Profpointy]

I like ^this post. I wear my helmet on occasions when I think it likely I will have a low speed off or hit a low branch off-road. Judgement of that likelihood is based on past experience.

A couple of Sundays ago I went for a ride wearing my helmet. Some in this thread saw me. I decided that not having ridden a bike with gears, spds, and with a British brake level arrangement for six months it was likely I might take a low speed tumble. As I hurtled down Handcross Hill toward Staplefield at nearly 40mph I knew the piece of ceiling tile on my head would shatter in the event of an off but still gravity and adrenaline drove me on. Faster... faster...

As it turned out I was so glad of that helmet at the end of the ride after I had left the hallowed company and set off for home. On entering chez Grumpy, which I've only lived in for a relatively few days in the last six months, I had an urgent need of the lavatory. So urgent I commited the ghastly faux-pas of not removing my hlemt the very instant I got off the bike. My mind was on more pressing matters and I completely forgot that the doorway to the downstairs toilet is only 6' high and I am 6' 2".

Smack.

Good job I was wearing a helmet. I shall recommend that all tall visitors to my humble abode wear a helmet from now on. I have compelling anecdata to prove the benefits of wearing one.

hillarity aside there's a serious point there, which is worth highighting. If you'd not been 2" taller in your helmet you'd have likely ducked sufficiently and not hit your head

 

[GrumpyGregry]

hillarity aside there's a serious point there, which is worth highighting. If you'd not been 2" taller in your helmet you'd have likely ducked sufficiently and not hit your head

About an hour later I smacked my unhelmeted head. In a helmet I'm 6' 3" (and a bit)

tlh thinks it bizarre as we've lived here donkey's and I always forget....

 

[Mugshot]

But you don't wear a helmet when traveling in a car or going in pubs, where head injuries are more likely. Your head is so precious and you show a careless attitude toward it and wear protection when you least need it.

Any caveats to these statements or is that it?

 

[glenn forger]

25% of TBIs are suffered by motor vehicle occupants. If you wear a helmet on a bike but not in the car you are risking God's precious gift. For shame.

 

[MontyVeda]

....
My mind was on more pressing matters and I completely forgot that the doorway to the downstairs toilet is only 6' high and I am 6' 2".

Smack.

Good job I was wearing a helmet. I shall recommend that all tall visitors to my humble abode wear a helmet from now on. I have compelling anecdata to prove the benefits of wearing one.

On the rare occasion i've had to wear hard hat on a construction site, i banged my head hat on pretty much everything... although i'm pretty dang sure it was a direct result of the hat making my 'head' bigger and not a sudden bout of clumsiness.

I would suggest a slight compromise though... just hang a helmet outside the downstairs lav door and suggest your visitors don it before entering.

About an hour later I smacked my unhelmeted head. In a helmet I'm 6' 3" (and a bit)

tlh thinks it bizarre as we've lived here donkey's and I always forget....

concussion?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

concussion?

13 times to date. It is where I get the grump from.

 

[Profpointy]

i am told on fairly good authority that they stopped giving helmets to people on submarines as they were hitting their (bigger) heads more and getting whiplash type neck injuries. Presumably this was workmen doing jobs rather than normal sailors .