Wear your helmet...??

[tintin40]

End of.

Sadly i think not. I Know how this group of people think. Like the anti-gun lobby, the anti-porn, Anti-smoking, Anti-abortion, Anti-free speech the anti every thing people. They are like a dog with a bone and wont let it go till it ends up like Prohibition and what a disaster that was.
They just move on to anther thing they don't like.
In future when i cycle (next spring) then i will be telling the helmet person to remove it. When he asks why? I will say because i don't wear one.
In fact you should all be riding Trimbles and ride using clip-less pedals and should go on the web using only a Mac.
We could on and on.. Look in history the 1920's USA 1930's Germany.
The helmet Mafia wont get me
If i die early then on a Trimble would be one way i would choose other with the wife

 

[lumos2000]

and while were at it ban unessasery car trips, actually ban cars from town/city center because your acting irresponsible. lock up fat people till they lose weight so there is more room on the bus. why not make cars from soft rubber and make roads like playground surfaces. :roll: talk about the nanny state. er excuse me are you qualified to use that ladder? :twisted:

 

[1duck]

I remember people being similarly unimpressed with the introduction of safety belt laws.

So in summary, it may be your legal option to go without a helmet, as it is to do so in many states in the US for motorcycling.

motorbikes and cars are a completely different kettle of fish, although I do think the safety belt law is a pile of poo to be honest. They should legally have to supply them with cars and children under 18 should have to wear them...but once you are old enough to make an informed choice it should be your own decision not someone elses.

As for motorbiking, you'd have to be mad to go without...bicycles not so much because you aren't doing the same sort of speeds.

 

[Woz]

You are spot on. Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfQsFgc3Xt0

In this video there is not a single cyclist wearing a helmet. Why?

Clearly, the politics of road safety and understanding cyclists in Utrecht have addressed the root of the problem - cars - rather than doing a half arsed sympton back hander screen smoke policy to make vunerable people believe that a helmet is an effective protection by law.

 

[kingoffootball]

Good post from woz, I pretty much agree with that.

It should be personal choice. Even if it wasn't a legal requirement, I'd wear a helmet when I ride my motorbikes. It's definitely paid off once, when I high-sided my bike at around 30mph.

I wouldn't say there isn't the possibility I could end up in an off where a bike helmet would make a big difference, but as yet I've had zero offs which involved banging my head. I don't doubt claim there is no luck involved - sometimes someone will knock you off and there is very little you can do about it - but some of it is awareness and how you ride on the road and I do think that riding motorbikes for a lot of years at much higher speeds helps focus that road awareness.

In comparison, I've received a couple of knocks to the head playing football which have caused concussion ... yet I don't intend to start wearing a helmet to play that, or even a Petr Cech style guard.

Everyone's situation as to how much danger they are exposed to is different, but you cannot eliminate it completely, whatever you try.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I see the level of this debate and raise it to, 'Well you can all scramble your brains if you want but please don't expect the rest of us paying taxes to pay for your stupidity', or in other words, make it Law that you must wear a helmet due to the inconsiderate and irresponsible who just won't get catch the wave.

Unfortunately it is usually the 'freedom' fighters who wind up making things restrictive.

Life is about compromise, there are bigger fights than the right to suffer massive disabling injury.

 

[Rod_Saetan]

Ever noticed that the non-helmet wearers are far more evangelical/aggressively didactic than the people who (quite rightly) think you should probably be wearing a helmet?

I have fallen off of my bike twice whilst wearing a helmet resulting in my head hitting the ground and in one occasion my helmet breaking, I can still string a sentence together correctly, merrily walk down the road in a straight line and finish a crossword - those of you that choose not to wear a helmet, well, I care not about you or your welfare, I wont bat an eyelid if you end up a dribbling wreck sucking a pureed roast dinner though a straw whilst someone wipes your arse, your decision, but please don't try and shove it down my (unbroken, unhindered, scar-free) throat.

I Know how this group of people think. Like the anti-gun lobby, the anti-p*rn, Anti-smoking, Anti-abortion, Anti-free speech the anti every thing people.

So anything that does not parlay with your viewpoint is 'anti'?

Enigmatic you confuses me, I like your signature full of Guardian accredited just causes, and I have picked up on your Greenpeace-esque stance - but that does not quite tie in to the fact you spend your weekends shooting (what? clay pigeons? targets? Helmet-wearers?) and advocating capital punishment.

Toodles!

 

[1duck]

Ever noticed that the non-helmet wearers are far more evangelical/aggressively didactic than the people who (quite rightly) think you should probably be wearing a helmet?




Toodles!

i don't wear a helmet...and i think that i ride a lot more carefully just because of that very reason. I'll dismount to go through a junction if it looks a bit hairy, i will slow down a bit more to go round a corner...

I think a helmet risks giving you a false sense of security which is something you can't afford to have on a bike...if you come off and a car squashes you like a melon that helmet isn't going to save you.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Ever noticed that the non-helmet wearers are far more evangelical/aggressively didactic than the people who (quite rightly) think you should probably be wearing a helmet?

ermm ... did you read the post above yours? So much for that theory.

 

[Woz]

highlandsflyer - it's about a personal choice, and I would like to keep it that way. I pay my tax, I'm not a car owner, I ride my bike sensibly and judge risk for myself and others around me according to conditions.

If I was 12, then the guiding hand of making proper judgements by responsible parents should suffice to ensure my own safety. If I was on a +120 mph capable machine in dense traffic I should have the right training take appropriate safety measures.

No one likes to pay tax for morons - including me. And yes, there are other causes of higher value.

But I will not allow a freaking bureaucrat backed up by the Police force to arrest me (or my 70+ parents) for riding a retro steed on a quiet country tow path with the wind blowing in my hair. That sort of freedom is worth fighting for, if not let's sit in a padded cell covered in bubble wrap and say "Game Over".