Wear your helmet...??

[Woz]

Not kid on-topic...but:

Last weekends ride - for a non helmet wearer like myself - the conditions on forest tracks were more dangerous than "normal" due to poor visibility and wet rock & roots hiding under layers of leaves.

For a moment, I thought "mmmh. Time to wear an helmet". Then I can came to my senses and used the two levers attached to the handlebars to slow down. Basic I know, but it works! I didn't fall off and finish up in emergancy with brains splattered out over the Rapid Fires. I enjoyed my ride. I pretty sure it's a repeatable procedure too.

Is this being lucky? I think not. I think it is rational. I'm not racing to prove anything to anybody, included myself.

BTW: I'm not anti helmet wearing, I'm just pro personal choice. I will never say to the helmet wearer take the damn thing off, you look a plonker or anything negative or stupid. I will not even comment if it fails or succeeds to protect them - I will still help in any event of an accident.

 

[The Ken]

It was a bit lucky, you don't need to be going fast to have a side slip on roots or rocks when they are wet, I've come off at very low speeds doing stuff like that, and although I'm not a great rider I'm not bad or inexperienced.

 

[hamster]

I've worn a helmet for 20 years. However one thing surprises me, and that is that the rate of cycling deaths does not appear to be going down per km travelled compared to say 30 years ago (when nobody wore helmets).

I wonder if there is an effect where the authorities say either:
1 Bad accident, not even a helmet could save him
-or -
2 Pity he wasn't wearing a helmet, now he's dead.

..giving an implied bias to helmets.

I've had one really big smash which totalled my helmet, and certainly I've seen others when it stopped horrible grazing at the very least.
But I'm less convinced that they have such a huge effect now.

 

[unkleGsif]

I've watched this discussion from afar, so far, but all I will have to say is this....

I have had 1 big smash, avec pisspot, where I went in head first to a slab of concrete, at about 20mph, and was knocked out stone cold for 20 minutes, and lost the entire week due to concussion.

I would NOT want to repeat it without a lid


I also had a mate a school that lost 30% of his brain (they took it out, jellied) having hit a tree at 20 mph without a helmet. He has pissed and shat in a bag for 20 years now, has no control of his limbs, cant walk, talk or swallow, and has had 24hr care from his parents since. They are in their 70's now, and still wipe his arse

My judgement has been made, but respect anyone who wants to make their own judgements, whatever risks they choose to take

 

[highlandsflyer]

However one thing surprises me, and that is that the rate of cycling deaths does not appear to be going down per km travelled compared to say 30 years ago (when nobody wore helmets).

It is a very difficult comparison to make. Traffic has changed so much in that time, as have the road systems.

I could go out riding on the back roads back then and barely see a car, whereas now I am constantly encountering traffic on the same roads.

A lot more people are using bicycles in urban areas now, commuting by bike was much less common back then.

 

[hamster]

I agree that the comparison is really hard - it's just that I would have expected some significant effect if helmets made a big difference.

For most of us the biggest danger of all is not riding our bikes and developing a pie habit. The chances of dying of heart disease are way higher.

I'll continue to wear my lid, but am skeptical about how much assistance it gives. The standards and tests are for pitifully low impact speeds. IIRC it's an 8mph collision with a kerbstone. Sadly this would not have helped your poor friend.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

I've had one really big smash which totalled my helmet ...

ANY smash will total your helmet. Even if you so much as drop it on the floor, you need to replace it because it has lost a big part of its ability to absorb impacts.

It's designed to take ONE blow, not several. If you're safety-conscious, keep that in mind.

 

[poolio]

Could the OP please edit the title of this thread to

"Wear Your Helmet...If you want to.

That would 'cover' it I think.

It was me, and what a can of worms eh!

My original post related to a news article, where the law took a dim view of a claimant who chose not to wear the provided helmet on some kind of work team-building thing... I didn't think such a (futile) debate would ensue.

I think we can all agree it's probably safer to wear a helmet than not wear one (although how much safer, and how daft/soft you look seems to have become the debate)...

I might add a question mark to the end of the title, rather than the three dots. I suppose it does read a bit like an instruction, never my intention.

Nonetheless, I'd never really thought people would be so opposed to wearing one though. I mean, if you don't want to wear one, you don't have to and a post on a forum's probably not gonna make you wear one.
If anything, reading repetitious views that oppose your own are likely to make the reader get more vehement about their stance... oh well c'est la vie! Long may the debate stumble on pointlessly... my most replied to post ever - which I (vainly) quite like!
JP

 

[26er]

http://helmetfreedom.com/

 

[poolio]

Excellent site 26er!

Fascinating perspective on what happens when you're 'forced' to wear helmets (i.e. fewer riders)...