FBinNY 

To me that's the crux of the helmet controversy. Those of us who chose to ride without a helmet have no problem understanding why others prefer to wear one. However
the situation isn't symmetrical, and we're constantly subjected to the "helpful" advice of those who cannot fathom why anyone would choose to ride without wearing a helmet.

Over the last 30 years or so, this kind of thing is one reason I ride mostly solo, or with a few among small circle. I also pass on organized rides because of their mandatory helmet rules.

The ultimate irony was this fall when I was almost T-boned by a car jumping a red as it was about changed, the collision only avoided with good reflexes and brakes. The driver rolled down his window and called out the classic, "what? no helmet?".

wphamilton

Yep, not only failing to understand why, but having some sense of entitlement with regards to random strangers. In fact, all I want to know from Bike Roswell is whether they have an agenda with respect to mandatory helmet laws, and if they encourage members in this sort of behavior. I have had at least a small amount of local notoriety in the past, and I don't want to lend that to that sort of agenda.

CarinusMalmari

No, I wouldn't. Unlike some people here I don't feel the need to bother random strangers with my opinion on helmets.

CarinusMalmari

It reminds me of the behavior of some reformed smokers. Typically the ones that aren't all that happy about the new situation, and try to reaffirm themselves by bashing random smokers. Perhaps deep down the more verbal helmeteers long for the feeling of the wind through their hair?

Joe Minton

Professor Hugh H. Hurt and Professor "Red" Lombard developed the basic modern helmet at the University of Southern California around 1960, perhaps a bit earlier. They were fulfilling a U.S. Navy contract aimed at reducing the number of deaths and severe head injuries to pilots crashing onto carrier decks.

They found that Styrofoam was the best material. It remains the best material. The essence of helmet performance is to reduce peak loads commonly expressed in "g"s; the higher the peak loading, the greater likelihood of lesions in brain tissue.

There was one study, involving cadaver heads, that found that a head with a half-inch of hair only needed a drop of 3.5 feet (as best I recall) onto a cement surface to produce a fractured skull and certain brain damage. If one were to fall over backwards on a sidewalk so that one's head hit first, he/she would never be the same again if, that is, they survived. Modern DOT helmets prevent such injuries with an eight foot drop. CPSC bicycle helmets do the same from a two meter drop. Helmets work, of that there is no doubt.

When Professor Lombard retired Hugh "Harry" Hurt became the professor of safety at USC. Though he was a most effective spokesman for the use of helmets, he privately did not support the compulsory use of helmets. He once told me that he was against such laws. I agree with that position. However, I do believe that the truth about helmet effectiveness ought to be widely known so that one can make an informed decision.

Jobst Brandt's error was believing that every event was foreseeable; he did not foresee that his frame might break in two. What was foreseeable were the possibilities and even likely consequences of such a failure. He disregarded those threats and shortened his life, and -- we lost a fine contributor to our sport.

Joe

A useful link: (Helmets: Bicycle Helmets)

howsteepisit

so where is any indication that a
Brandt's stoke was caused by a head injury? me, i wear a helmet at times at times not. Your source warns against false claims on both side.

Oh yeah, DOT is for motorcycle helmets,not bicycle helmets

Joe Minton

I was the technical editor for Bicycle Rider in 1986 and chose to research and write an article about bicycle helmets. This was a follow-on to the similar article I researched and we published when I was the tech editor at Motorcyclist magazine.
The research consisted of gathering a couple of dozen helmets, taking them to the helmet test lab at USC (University of Southern California) and drop testing them. The data we collected formed the content and conclusions I wrote into the article.
At the time, there was no governmental standard for bicycle helmet impact performance. We created our own standard (Harry, Dave and I). We decided that a reasonable drop height ought to be about the same as a bicycle rider’s head above the ground. To establish what that height ought to be, Dave took three rolls of film (108 pix total) of bicycle riders passing his carefully calibrated yard stick stuck in the sand next to the bike path on the beach near his home in Redondo Beach, CA. The average was 5’7”. So --- that was our drop height.
We tested using the already-established helmet test machinery:

• Flat anvil
• Hemi anvil
• Highly developed head forms
• etc

There was one surprise (to me, not, I suspect, to Dave or Harry). I learned that it was possible to make a helmet that was more dangerous than not wearing one at all. One helmet used neoprene wet-suit foam and was rather popular. It was a disaster! It seems that the neoprene foam, when completely compressed, ‘kicks back’ and produces a very high but very short ‘g’ number. What the data clearly showed was that this particular helmet was dangerous to wear and that the best thing one could do when wearing said helmet was to throw it off when engaging an oncoming accident.
My article put that company (and 15 people) out of business. I regret that those folks lost their jobs. However, I do not regret telling the (verifiable) truth.

Joe

mconlonx

It's not hate for bicycle helmets. Most of the bare-head brigade couldn't care less if you choose one or not. However, issue is taken when ignorant comments are made in association with helmet use or non-use, like "...wearing a helmet is probably cheaper than whatever co-pay option you guys do when in a hospital."

mconlonx

This:

...combined with this:

...is a contradictory statement. Do you care whether people wear a helmet or not, or do you care that your taxes go to pay for hospital care of the infinitesimally small percentage of cyclists who crash, without a helmet, and need hospital care?

You can't have it both ways...

mconlonx

Really? 'Cause lots of people die and are seriously injured while wearing helmets. How on earth can you legitimately make this claim?

Here, I will make a counterclaim with as much to back it up: Had Jobst Brandt been wearing a helmet and considering the circumstances of the crash he suffered, he still would have suffered serious TBI and died as a result of complications from it.

Joe Minton

The Christmas turkey: paraphrasing Bertrand Russell:
A turkey concludes that it will always be fed in the early morning based on its 300+ days of experience. However, the evening before Christmas, someone cuts its throat.

The black swan:
All Swans are white, until, that is, you go to South Africa where there are black ones.

Helmets are not necessary ---- until they are.
You make your choice; you take your chance.

I simply don't want you to make a choice in ignorance or through misdirection.

Joe

mconlonx

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

You do what you want; I wear a helmet, not because it will save my life, but because helmets are way cool and it might save me from minor injury which would still be a total inconvenience any given day.

What I don't do is tell others how they should live their lives or oversell the safety/protective capabilities of bicycle helmets.

joejack951

By what process did you determine that a standard bicycle helmet strikes this perfect balance to which you allude? To be more specific, why not a helmet offering a higher degree of protection such as a full face helmet?

rydabent

Being so anti helmet that you wont ride club or other organized rides means you are missing out on a lot of cycling fun. But I guess that is your choice.

2 Piece

My goodness where in the post you quoted did FBinNY make a statement that he is "so anti helmet"??? Where has the reading comprehension gone??? Like he says, us non helmet users can easily tolerate helmet users, however helmet users have a hissy with anyone doesn't believe in helmet use.

Sargon

Wow! I have to admire your staying power, and that of njkayaker. I check a year later and you are still holding out against the usual suspects: the fake statistician, the guy straining to make the Dutch experience relevant to America, and the regular trolls.

Here is the winning argument: Let the millions of miles of hard asphalt out there drive the argument home and knock some sense into reticent heads. It is far more persuasive that anything you or I can write.

Do continue...

baron von trail 

I wear my helmet for the visor. It lets me wear clear goggles which then comes in handy when I ride in both daylight and dark conditions on commutes. It also keeps the rain off my face.

Good enough for me.

Safety? Shrug. Sure. It's probably a little safer to wear a helmet than it is to ride without one.

2 Piece

What fake statisticians?

Sargon

Singular and not you.

njkayaker

Some members of cycle clubs do that (not all of them). I sometimes point out that it probably doesn't matter.

You wouldn't want to make a hasty decision.

There are many people who use helmets who don't care that you and others don't ride without one.

It seems likely that many of the people complaining about cyclists not wearing helmets don't ever cycle. Many of those people would likely rather you not ride at all (making the helmet issue moot).

njkayaker

Not a guess based on facts. If they had "little faith", they wouldn't use them ever.

2 Piece

I was just playing the same game the pro helmet wearers play, basing my own conjecture not facts. I am finding most pro helmet wearers are more faith based than fact base. It feels good to to give my guesses as fact, I now understand why so many pro helmet users do it.

njkayaker

Ahh.

Many people who wear helmets don't really care that other people don't. There's many years of "anti helmet" faith based stuff in this and earlier threads too.

wphamilton

I don't care if any or all of the members are fanatical about helmets, or have any other opinion about it. On the other hand, if it's normal or even expected for their members to act that way, I don't want to be associated with it.

njkayaker

I'm not sure if fanaticism is normal or expected. There are drivers who don't cycle who are pretty fanatical about helmets. Certainly, you are free to associate with or without anybody you choose.