mconlonx

Well, unfortunately, that would be here. Because if you try to start a non-contoversial helmet thread of this nature elsewhere, one of the dooshier members of the barehead bigade will inevitably sabotage it and the threadn will be locked or banished here in the Helmet Thread ghettom

Mark Stone

Actually, there are two helmet threads going on right now in other areas of the forum that are staying "on topic". One of them is about whether you can use ski helmets as bike helmets here and I don't remember the location of the other off the top of my head. Threads that discuss size, fit, style, price, availability etc. are welcome anywhere in the forums. When the discussion drifts into the pro/con helmet debate is when moderator action is required. It is a verrrrrrrrry emotional subject.

rydabent

All of the ranting against helmets is astounding to me. Why so much ranting and whining against helmets when they may help prevent injury, and almost NEVER harm anyone in a crash?

Since there are almost no laws requiring anyone to wear helmets except kids why are a few here so exercised against helmets? And------------BTW I need to state again that I am totally against any mandatory helmet laws.

Personally of course I am pro helmet usage. Even tho I ride a recumbent bike, and a trike that probably more safe and calls for a lessor reason to wear helmets I do. Especially riding my trike, the number of times that a helmet would prevent injury is very low, since I sit about 6 inches above the ground.

Remember I fully agree that wearing a helmet, and being hit by a car doing 75 would be useless. Remember that most bike accident take place at low speeds where helmets will usually pevent any injury, even if they are just bumps and scrapes. Any injury prevented no matter how minor is a good thing.

howsteepisit

Where is this ranting?

LesterOfPuppets

All ages helmet laws exist in many cities and counties in my state. The entire continent of Australia has an all ages helmet law.

If the cycling-is-dangerous thought pervades then expect more all ages helmet laws.

Bicycling PPE levels should be personal choice. Just as with ice skating, jogging, horseback riding, etc. helmet requirements should be left to competitive sports agencies and enthusiast clubs not made into legislated law of the land.

Six jours

Technically, most bike accidents take place at low speeds without the head ever striking the ground. And the small fraction of such accidents where the head does strike the ground result in no significant injury. So what you are really saying is that a helmet is good at protecting from insignificant injuries in a miniscule fraction of bicycle accidents.

Which is true so far as it goes, but makes one wonder why you spend so much time ranting and whining about people who aren't concerned enough about the prevention of unlikely and insignificant injuries to do exactly what you think they should.

rydabent

six

ANY injury prevented is a good thing. And---------as long as you and others keep railing against helmets, I will be here to assure people that wearing a helmet is no burden, and if they do prevent injury it indeed is a good thing.

Six jours

I really wish you'd try thinking instead of regurgitating. You keep saying the same things, which keep getting shot down in the same ways. No actual information has entered this loop since about 2007.

Steve Urquell

I'm a Physical Therapist Asst at my local hospital. I've treated several helmeted/non-helmeted crash victims. The non-helmeted patients usually end up being on the ventilator and losing pieces of their skulls/suffer brain damage depending on what they hit--an auto windshield vs 18y/o skull crash come to mind. Dude was seriously messed up and is now wearing a helmet for the rest of his life to protect his brain. He has a portion of skull that was removed and a soft spot as big as my fist. Ironic huh?

Another was a downhill crash on a carbon bike. Guy broke several ribs, collar bone and hit his helmet on the concrete. Had a nice bit of road rash on his chin and a Giro helmet in his room broken all the way through--no head injury. One of my co-workers never wore a helmet when we rode. I took him up and showed him the helmet that guy was wearing. He now wears a helmet when we ride.

I crashed in August, went over the bars, and protected my helmet with my chin. Broke my jaw on both sides. I can say that in 100% of the crashes I've had, a helmet would not have protected me. Do I wear one? Based on the patients I've seen I'd say it's pretty good insurance. If you don't want to wear one then that's fine too.

Deontologist

There's little doubt that having your head encased in foam can help with impacts in many cases. I'll refrain from saying all cases because it is plausible that a helmet can actually increase the severity of an injury or cause an injury. For example, tri helmets with the tipped backs have been implicated in causing injuries or exacerbating injuries.

The fundamental question - the one that no one has yet conclusively settled - is whether these helmeted cyclists you worked with would have escaped injury *without* helmets.

For one thing, people tend to take bigger risks when they think they are protected. This concept - risk compensation - is well-documented.

The Straight Dope: Do pads and helmets increase rather than prevent football injuries?

For another thing, motorists may also take bigger risks around helmeted cyclists.

Personally, however, I wear a helmet because my commute involves very little actual road sharing with cars. So even if cars decide to pass closer or whatever around me, I'm okay with that. I figure there's a bigger risk of me falling down hard on the asphalt on my own accord, and a helmet might help with that. I also have a pair of gloves for that.

LesterOfPuppets

wut

Do you wear a full face helmet now?

Six jours

Well, I was a paramedic in a busy metro area and 100% of the bicyclists with head injuries I saw were wearing helmets.

So I never wear a helmet because they obviously cause head injuries. </misleading anecdote with false conclusion>

RickBlane

I wear a helmet because I chose to. I object to a law that says I must wear a helmet because a group of mostly non bike riders think I should.

rydabent

six

You claim I restate the same position over and over. Yet it the same with you and several others. What bothers me is the fact that you and others simply resist and dismiss ANYONE including me that has been hit or crashed where a helmet has prevented injury. You people seem to put far more stock in "research" and theory than real world happenings. Explain that!

Six jours

Well, firstly, without helmeteers this thread wouldn't exist because, again, there is no one here saying people should not wear helmets. There are only people like you who keep insisting everyone wear helmets, and people like me who don't like being told what to do. The "restatement" done by "us people" is in direct response to the same tired regurgitations of the helmeteers.

As for resisting or dismissing people who have crashed, there are several factors.

First is that none of us - including the crasher - really know what would have happened without the helmet. You guys blow in here with your latest breathlessly retold story abut how a helmet saved your life and apparently expect everyone to take it at face value. And as always, there is little doubt that helmets do sometimes save lives - but there is strong evidence that people grossly overestimate the amount of life-saving done by bicycle helmets. Don't you remember my little poll about the topic? Half of the respondents believed that a helmet had saved their lives. Obviously bicycling in the pre-helmet days didn't suffer anything like a 50% fatality rate, so obviously a significant percentage of these stories cannot possibly be true, no matter how sincerely the tellers believe them.

Second is the fact that a lot of these reported crashes were simply idiotic. People who failed to do even the most basic bike maintenance. People who ran into big, obvious stationary objects at low speed in broad daylight. I just don't see the sense in taking safety advice from fools.

Finally, a lot of these crash stories come from the same people, over and over again. Apparently quite a few of you expect to suffer life-threatening crashes on a fairly regular basis. Whether that's due to choice (downhill mountain bike racing, for instance) or through sheer incompetence, the fact remains that "I crash a lot so you should put on a helmet" is a lousy argument.

Now, as to research vs. real world happenings, it's just more evidence that you don't really even read before responding. I have repeatedly dismissed helmet statistics (on both sides of the argument) as essentially useless. I base my helmet wearing choices on my own experiences and circumstances, same as you. The difference is that I don't think my experiences and circumstances are universal, or even any more valid than anyone else's. I'm happy to let people make their own decisions based on their own experiences.

You, on the other hand, are simply a busybody.

rydabent

six

Actually this thread wouldnt exist if the anti helmet crowd didnt rail against them. Helmets are sold as safety equiptment for cyclist. A large percentage of regular cyclist wear them. Most clubs and races require riders to wear a helmet. I dont demand that everyone wear a helmet, I just think any intelligent person would.

Six jours

Well, that's semi true. If folks were free to claim pretty much any kind of magical abilities WRT helmets and nobody ever called them on it, there'd be no debate.

But some of us don't believe in magic.

And some of us don't appreciate random insults to our intelligence from strangers on the internet. (Or out on the road, for that matter.)

Hence, this thread.

Six jours

Beyond that, I'd like to note for the record that you demanded answers from me and then ignored them (again) when given. I'm going to mention that the next time you demand to know why no one ever addresses your points.

3alarmer 

3alarmer 

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Six jours

So, is digging up semi-appropriate graphics a full time thing for you, or are you using some kind of service?

Dave Cutter

I joke about helmet use. Partly... because my wife insists I wear one while cycling. Interestingly... I insist she wears leather work shoes when mowing the lawn. Since my wife and I met late in life she has decades of experience of mowing in sandals. And I had never owned a helmet before her and I met.

Sometimes a little acceptance goes a very long way.

Meanwhile.... I've evolved to wearing helmets that match my bicycle. I also wear shoes that clip into my pedals. I like those shoes because they have no strings to come untied and/or get caught in the chain sprockets.

The shoes may also add some efficiency and/or speed to my cycling in certain situations too. As the helmet may also... at some point.. save me possible harm. Meanwhile.... I need some sort of headwear and footwear anyway. And since helmets and [clipless] cycling shoes seem to completely be the fashion with the "cool" kids (and my wife) I am in.

Once during a local heat wave I had gone for an early morning ride during the weekend. I had stopped at a rest area along a popular bicycle path and was rehydrating. I saw a young couple preparing for a ride... unloading their bikes, checking tire pressure, getting water bottles from a cooler and so forth. I realized then that there was a whole extra hobby within the hobby with the equipment.

Most hobbies are like that. They can have little sub-hobbies within the hobby. The equipment in cycling is as important as the activity. Of course... by equipment I mostly mean the bicycle and not the "kit". But the kit is important too. Even if most cyclist may never have a need for spandex (let alone shaved legs) and rarely have I seen a cyclist on the MUP that benefits from aerodynamic clothing. It is all part of the fun!

Six jours

I had a girlfriend who was willing to do the housework in stilettos.

I had to get rid of the Polaroids after I married someone else, though.

howsteepisit

But, did she wear a helmet, which any intelligent house cleaner would?

3alarmer 

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