This is a helmet debate

[snailracer]

No then.

OR he should have been wearing a motorcycle helmet, if he's going to ride down a twisty mountain road at 50mph

 

[snailracer]

...
So far as the "my bike is safer than yours" comment, rarely have I read such utter codswallop. There are less safe riders, and poorly looked after bikes. A well maintained bike is a safe instrument, a loony rider is not. Tyre width, upright position, makes no difference. All doen to that thing tat is an essential, skill, plus a bit of added common sense....

Isn't this a bit simplistic? Even good riders make mistakes, no?

Most accidents are due to something a motorist has done, the cyclist does not always have a "choice" in the matter.

Something is not simply "safe" or "not safe", there are margins of safety and better braking = more safety margin.

 

[jack cameron]

Just take a look at some of the crashes recently,in particular the tour of california...if the rider had not had a helmet on,i don't think he would have had much of a chance...look at the tour de france last year too.Every rider who crashed battered their head on the ground.A helmet really could save your life,,,,,,,,,do yourselves a big favour......WEAR ONE!!!!!!!!!

 

[evilclive]

Just take a look at some of the crashes recently,in particular the tour of california...if the rider had not had a helmet on,i don't think he would have had much of a chance...look at the tour de france last year too.Every rider who crashed battered their head on the ground.A helmet really could save your life,,,,,,,,,do yourselves a big favour......WEAR ONE!!!!!!!!!

And look at the footage from races before helmets were mandated - same crashes, no helmets, blood, but not people dying.

 

[Red Light]

i have sene quotes on here from people saying they reached up 40/50mph on downhills, i presume pro cyclist cycle at those speeds, so the amateur cyclist can reach speeds the same as a pro cyclist, maybe not for the same time period. that was my point

That is indicative of the fact that helmet wearing can only be for sponsorship reasons. 40-50mph is between 10 and 16 times the maximum design specification of the helmets used. No credible risk analysis would allow mitigation with safety equipment that is only 7-10% of the performance needed. Its the equivalent of giving people cotton t-shirts for protection against knives and guns or thin cotton gloves for getting things out of the oven. The only conclusion one can reach therefore is that its done for sponsorship reasons only, a conclusion reinforced by the fact that the competitors only have to wear them in competition when the cameras are around - wearing them during training is voluntary under UCI rules.

 

[Red Light]

Just take a look at some of the crashes recently,in particular the tour of california...if the rider had not had a helmet on,i don't think he would have had much of a chance...look at the tour de france last year too.Every rider who crashed battered their head on the ground.A helmet really could save your life,,,,,,,,,do yourselves a big favour......WEAR ONE!!!!!!!!!

Yes, we all recall the ground being littered with dead cyclists when such crashes happened pre 2003 when helmets were not mandatory in competition and many did not wear them.

 

[Rebel Ian]

Just take a look at some of the crashes recently,in particular the tour of california...if the rider had not had a helmet on,i don't think he would have had much of a chance...look at the tour de france last year too.Every rider who crashed battered their head on the ground.A helmet really could save your life,,,,,,,,,do yourselves a big favour......WEAR ONE!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, Jack. Your head - your choice. My head - my choice.

 

[ufkacbln]

Just take a look at some of the crashes recently,in particular the tour of california...if the rider had not had a helmet on,i don't think he would have had much of a chance...look at the tour de france last year too.Every rider who crashed battered their head on the ground.A helmet really could save your life,,,,,,,,,do yourselves a big favour......WEAR ONE!!!!!!!!!

Just look at some of the incidents on the football field, if these footballers had been wearing helmets then they would have had far more of a chance, may footballers have either headed the ball, or been incolve din clashes resulting in head injury.


In February 2011 Louis Carey suffered a fractured skull while his team were playing against Scunthorpe. John Terry was hospitalised after a head injury during a match. In anther natch, two players were taken off with serious head injuries (Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini)

There are also definitive links between football and head injuries induced by contact with the ball, again incuding fatalities!

Another study has shown that in adolescent players those playing without headgear could be over twice as likely to suffer concussion than those without. FIFA is now authorising protective headgear and looking to both promote and extend their use.

A recent study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine looked at the risks of head injury among 268 adolescent football (my comment - this is NOT American Football) players. Dr Scott Delaney, research director of emergency medicine at the McGill University Health Centre in America, found that the risk of concussion was 2.65 times higher for players who did not wear protective headgear. Although Fifa, football's international governing body, authorised the wearing of soft headgear in matches, it has not made them mandatory and McGill said that he hoped that his study would “help to convince parents” that head protection may be important for football-playing youngsters.

In the British Journal of Sports Medicine another paper concludes that:

In football, contact to the head during tackling duels or when heading the ball has the potential to cause traumatic brain injury. Alongside specific concerns related to individual incidents causing concussion there is also a wider debate of whether repeated concussive and subconcussive head trauma may lead to chronic brain injury

Several players have died from head injuries during football games.

As a footballer, a helmet really could save your life,do yourselves a big favour......WEAR ONE when playing football!!!!!!!!!

 

[thelawnet]

Helmets MAY help in a glancing blow.

Codswallop I say.

So far as the "my bike is safer than yours" comment, rarely have I read such utter codswallop. There are less safe riders, and poorly looked after bikes. A well maintained bike is a safe instrument, a loony rider is not. Tyre width, upright position, makes no difference.

Clearly untrue. Bike choice does make a difference. Some bikes are weaker than others, this accident report says http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/05/i-got-hit-by-car-during-race-rev-3.html the time trial bike resulted in a longer braking distance and is therefore more dangerous.


A bright pink bike is more visible than a black one - shouldn't we all therefore have bright pink bikes, to reduce the risk of collision?

 

[MacB]

Just take a look at some of the crashes recently,in particular the tour of california...if the rider had not had a helmet on,i don't think he would have had much of a chance...look at the tour de france last year too.Every rider who crashed battered their head on the ground.A helmet really could save your life,,,,,,,,,do yourselves a big favour......WEAR ONE!!!!!!!!!

Just one question.....WHY?....I don't race, I don't ride in close formation, I don't sprint, I don't have foot retention so won't be having a clipless moment, etc, etc.

Could you please point me to the evidence of a mass of head injury issues for riders like me prior to the arrival of helmets on the scene? This would include the point in time when rider numbers were enormous by todays standards.

For any modern injury stats is there a split on who was/wasn't wearing a helmet, whether the helmet was any help, whether the helmet made things worse, what sort of riding was being done at the time, speeds being done, condition of bike, road conditions, weather conditions and any other contributory factors?

As for every rider that crashed battered their head on the ground...really?...there is video evidence you know.....why not do us all a favour and don't make stuff up to try and support your point?

 

[Red Light]

Just take a look at some of the crashes recently,in particular the tour of california...if the rider had not had a helmet on,i don't think he would have had much of a chance...look at the tour de france last year too.Every rider who crashed battered their head on the ground.A helmet really could save your life,,,,,,,,,do yourselves a big favour......WEAR ONE!!!!!!!!!

Lets look at the evidence which Reuters have kindly compiled for us, of crash deaths of cyclists in competition, remembering that helmets became mandatory in 2003;

LONDON | Mon May 9, 2011 5:59pm BST

(Reuters) - A list of cyclists who have died in crashes since 1990.

Name Race Year

Fabio Casartelli (Italy) Tour de France 1995

Manuel Sanroma (Spain) Tour of Catalunya 1999

Nicole Reinhart (U.S.) Arlington Circuit Race 2000

Andrei Kivilev (Kazakhstan) Paris-Nice 2003

Juan Barrero (Colombia) Tour of Colombia 2004

Tim Pauwels (Belgium) Cyclo-cross race, Belgium 2004

Isaac Galvez (Spain) Six Days of Ghent 2006

Bruno Neves (Portugal) Classica de Amarante 2008

Thomas Casarotto (Italy) Giro del Friuli Venezia 2010

Wouter Weylandt (Belgium) Giro d'Italia 2011

Sources: Reuters, AAP, Cycling news




Something tells me things have got worse, not better.

 

[gavroche]

that's a very small percentage considering the number of professional riders involved.
As usual, when health & safety get into something, they want everybody to be wrapped into cotton wool and treat everyone like kids, forgetting that we are fully grown adults and not stupid. Commonsense will always prevail, no matter what some guy in a suit try to impose on us.
Next, they will insist on cyclists wearing full body armour, knee and elbow pads, just in case you fall off at 10mph!
There are a lot of oldie riders on this site and I am pretty sure that the majority have never worn anything but shorts and jerseys and are still doing well, thank you very much.

 

[monkeypony]

incomplete analysis, maybe not, a race is by its mere nature more risky than a general car user. If you can honestly say driving a car on a public road has the same risks as driving a car in a race then there is little point you continuing to try to understand my views.

I know for a fact that there are more deaths per driver per mile on Britains roads each year than on its racetracks.

Driving on the roads is far more dangerous than on closed circuits, any fool can see that.

Maybe its the crash helmets

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Here's some important research I just made up...

 

[tyred]