New School/modern bikers

[FSR-Si]

I tried wearing one years ago but didn't like it so never wore one again and never will. Its my head and if i break it then its my lookout. Forcing it on people is wrong especially if its not required by law.

 

[scant]

I do mtb tuition & guiding as a job. no helmet, no ride. its not as if helmets are a massive hardship like carrying an anvil!

its all very fine to say that people accept there own fate for not wearing a helmet if they crash & hurt themselves, but inevitably when people not wearing helmets smash their heads it then places the responsibilities on others to look after the injured. I've found complete strangers on the trail with head trauma needing assistance that would be have been avoided if they'd been wearing helmets.
I'm not saying that helmets will prevent all injuries, but why worsen your own odds for such a slight gain. doesnt make any sence!

 

[one-eyed_jim]

I do mtb tuition & guiding as a job. no helmet, no ride.

Then that's a matter for you and your students or clients

Freedom of choice, yes, but would the family of a dead biker who wasn't wearing a helmet that may have saved his/her life welcome that freedom?

and that's a matter for a man and his family

To be honest funerals are pretty expensive, I would be a little pissed if someone died on my watch due to no helmet, without life insurance to cover the funeral.

and that's for a man and his next of kin.

 

[scant]

I do mtb tuition & guiding as a job. no helmet, no ride.

Then that's a matter for you and your students or clients

Freedom of choice, yes, but would the family of a dead biker who wasn't wearing a helmet that may have saved his/her life welcome that freedom?

and that's a matter for a man and his family

To be honest funerals are pretty expensive, I would be a little pissed if someone died on my watch due to no helmet, without life insurance to cover the funeral.

and that's for a man and his next of kin.

have you swallowed a "state the obvious" pill or something?

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Aye, maybe. Still, it doesn't hurt, eh?

The point you make about the duty to take reasonable precautions is a good one of course, and presumably you know as well as anybody what are reasonable precautions for the trails you ride. But it's for every individual to make up his mind for the riding he does, be that the Fort William downhill course, or the London to bloody Cambridge.

There's that "stating the obvious" pill again!

 

[gibbleking]

theres an aspect of this not discussed yet and is quite important (my opinion.)if (by accident) i was to collide with a cyclist ,be it a child or adult without a helmet on and they were to fall off and be seriously hurt as a result or even killed.how do you think you would feel .even if it was their fault .we dont allow our children to sit in a car at 30 mph without a seat belt so by that rationale the child should be made to wear a helmet until the age of responsibility when it becomes their own choice.minors left to their own devices wouldnt look to cross roads ,wear the right amount of sun cream on a sunny day or any of the other choices we as adults have learned to make.its our job as the grown up to make choices for our kids and to set an example for them.i see day after day parents and children riding on the roads kids all protected and gloved yet the adults have nothing.i dont have a problem with people not wearing helmets but when their choice impacts on others (ie fallout from an accident such as where 1 is brain damaged as a result of not having a helmet ) then i think there should be rules that apply .....court cases ect compensation to relatives and all......just a thought.feel free to disagree....just dont crash and winge that your head gets split apart like a wet coconut.

 

[scant]

i dont have a problem with people not wearing helmets but when their choice impacts on others (ie fallout from an accident such as where 1 is brain damaged as a result of not having a helmet ) then i think there should be rules that apply .....court cases ect compensation to relatives and all......just a thought.feel free to disagree....just dont crash and winge that your head gets split apart like a wet coconut.

thats exactly my point that I mentioned above. if you find a stranger lying on the trail with head injuries do you shout at them "you idiot you should be wearing a helmet"? no, you'd try to help them.

DH helmets are mandatory in DH races these days. reasonable precaution for whatever you're doing as mentioned above. if normal xc helmets weighed the same as anvils i'd understand people not wearing them.

 

[Harryburgundy]

The trouble is, accidents seem to have a habit of happening when you least expect them.
Sure, do a full risk assessment before each ride..weigh up the probabilities etc.....exercise your right to choice and freedom....all of it will mean bugger all if, god forbid, you do have that accident, and suffer brain damage as a result of not wearing a helmet.

HB

 

[gibbleking]

heres a partial scan of a leaflet we give to my pupils in their cycling lessons

 

[one-eyed_jim]

theres an aspect of this not discussed yet and is quite important (my opinion.)if (by accident) i was to collide with a cyclist ,be it a child or adult without a helmet on and they were to fall off and be seriously hurt as a result or even killed.how do you think you would feel .even if it was their fault.

That makes a lot of assumptions about the effectiveness of helmets. How would you feel if - through no fault of your own - you caused the death of someone who could have chosen to stay at home that day? All activities carry risk - even leaving the house. Even staying at home.

we dont allow our children to sit in a car at 30 mph without a seat belt so by that rationale the child should be made to wear a helmet until the age of responsibility when it becomes their own choice.

One doesn't follow from the other. Injuries to unrestrained car passengers were a source of a great many deaths - head injuries to cyclists rather few. When I grew up my parents insisted on seatbelts in the car before it was a legal requirement, but the idea that we should wear helmets to ride a bicycle was never even suggested.

minors left to their own devices wouldnt look to cross roads ,wear the right amount of sun cream on a sunny day or any of the other choices we as adults have learned to make.its our job as the grown up to make choices for our kids and to set an example for them.

Yes, that's true. But kids are smart enough to know that rules for adults aren't the same as rules for kids, and for good reason. Setting a good example for children doesn't mean behaving like them. Maturity doesn't mean abdicating responsibility to a higher power - it means making reasonable decisions for yourself.

i dont have a problem with people not wearing helmets but when their choice impacts on others (ie fallout from an accident such as where 1 is brain damaged as a result of not having a helmet ) then i think there should be rules that apply .....court cases ect compensation to relatives and all......just a thought.

All of our actions affect others, often in ways that aren't predictable. I know of a mountain biker who always wore a helmet, wouldn't ride without it. In other words he took risks when wearing his helmet that he wouldn't have taken otherwise. He broke his back. Society can't, and shouln't make rules to constrain risk in every case. Risk is a part of life, and learning to manage it is a part of growing up.