Chiro69

Well folks today I had to commute 2 miles to the train station w/out my helmet. I forgot my helmet at home. Yesterday I drove to the train station because I was so paranoid about biking w/out my helmet. Today I said screw it its only 2miles. I'm going for it! I made it w/out a scratch, but I was worried it just might be my day for an accident w/ a car or I fall. I usually wear a helmet all the time, but I started wondering how many of you wear helmets during your commute?

fuerein

I've ridden without it a couple times but 99.99% of the time I'll have it on... Just hate that chin strap though, so uncomfortable!

KingTermite 

I never ride without a helmet.

UmneyDurak

I have helmet on, but I also go for training rides right after work. That being said I don't see a big problem with not having a helmet on a 2 mile commute. I think if you get hit by a car not having a helmet on is the least of your problems.
Bottom line do whatever you feel comfortable/safe with. It's your life.

kemmer

I wouldn't go so far as to drive because I didn't have my helmet, but I do wear one most of the time. I have been known to keep a spare at the office in case I forget to wear one on the way in. I don't think cycling is as dangerous as people think, and I don't think helmets offer very much protection anyway.

JohnBrooking

Needs to be a poll.

I make it a point to always wear it during my 5 mile commute, because I'm making time on major roads as a "driver" with cars. I make it a point to wear it around my neighborhood as an example to my kids and other peoples'. I don't always wear it going out for noontime errands, lunch runs, or short pleasure rides. (But then, my hair gets messed up! )

My feeling is that by being good bike driver, vigilant and anticipating problems, I'm greatly reducing my chances of actually needing the helmet. Sure, there's always that chance, but it's a risk mitigation thing, not the black and white "safe or unsafe" decision that some people think of it as.

Sportute

I think we're a little too paranoid sometimes. I grew up in the 70's and was on my bike for hours every day without any of the safety gear I use today. Got in a few scrapes etc. but nothing really serious. No seatbelts either when we were in our car.

Once in a while? It's a risk but the important thing is the habit of wearing the helmet. The fact that you're paranoid about NOT having your helmet leads to the safe habits, which is a good thing.

Buglady

I feel ridiculously exposed and vulnerable without a helmet. (Same way I feel about the seatbelt in cars actually).

evblazer

:My wife and I always wear our helmets even on the shortest ride. A few times I have turned around at hte end of our street when somehow I left it.
Just this week some jerk cylists on a bike that looks identical to mine stopped when she wasn't looking and down she went. Hit gloves and helmet. Sure she would have been fine without one but probably woulda hurt more.
Today I took a spill at my work parking lot all by my lonesome and the helmet helped me avoid some head road rash. My knee was gushing and I'm sure knee pads would help but not spacing out and running into a concrete island would have been better prevention.

cooker

The risk of an injury due to not having a helmet is very small, but the consequences are large.

In the last 15 years of regular adult rec and commuter riding, my helmetted head has kissed the earth twice, once when I foolishly took a blind jump over a dumped load of gravel on a trail and nosedived into a pothole, and once when the bike slipped out from under me on ice. Both were minor impacts that I barely felt, but in one case the helmet was cracked and in the other the plastic shell was dented.

That said, in a pinch I would likely ride the two miles and just be careful.

Artkansas 

Well, when I started commuting, there were no helmets. I initially bought a helmet for those rare times that I thought I should have one, such as bombing down Topanga Canyon or Angeles Crest Highway. I didn't really wear one a lot until about 5 years ago, and I adopted it then because the helmet offered insulation from the desert heat. But now that I am on the board of the local bicycle advocacy group, I wear it to set an example.

However, this morning I didnt wear it. It's 1,700 miles away. I'm in Santa Cruz and I took the BMX bike that I bought at the Salvation Army store, slung it onto the bus and rode it from the bus, over the freeway and to work. The bus route is assymetrical here, so my ride back to the bus will be much longer, but fortunately, downhill most of the way.

I've been helmet free all the time that I've been here and pedaling my little bike. But much of my riding has been on bike paths and in slow downtown traffic so I don't feel particularly in danger.

CliftonGK1

I'll go on short errand runs w/o a helmet, but I don't do my 7.5 mile commute w/o it.

bhtooefr

Except for rides around the driveway, I've got my helmet on. Rather be safe than dead.

chipcom 

Except for rides that require one or snowy/icy winter commutes I don't wear a helmet...and haven't for over 40 years. Wear one if you feel you need it, but I would not let the lack of one stop you from riding at all.

lil brown bat

That's my thinking about safety in general: consider the likelihood of an incident, then consider the consequences. Head injury...wow, no thanks.

To me, there's really not a downside to wearing a helmet. I'm just used to it -- I wear a helmet year round to ski, bike, and paddle whitewater.

ECDkeys

I do wear one, but I remember the days when I wore those little leather skeletons. Back then, I took a spill when my front wheel clipped the rear wheel of the cyclist I was drafting, and I went down so fast I didn't even remember going down. Next thing I know, I stand up, with only my pride injured.

I think today's helmets may be a good thing, but I can see potential for bad, as in a false sense of security. The debate rages on, but I agree with those who say education will keep you safer than a helmet.

BTW, since my recent return to cycling, all my accidents have been solo, involving either slick conditions (ice), or freak weather (powerful wind gust). My helmet may have prevented a head injury in one, but in that accident, I was more concerned (justly) about a broken rib.

And, if we're so concerned about head injuries while cycling, shouldn't we be wearing helmets while driving cars? Anyone see those videos of car crash dummies in side impact collisions?

bhtooefr

The issue with that is, helmets present head clearance issues (and can cause spinal compression issues) in cars, and also, turning around to look in your blind spot is affected.

With a bicycle helmet, that's NOT the case.

I-Like-To-Bike

My brother, you seem to have your head screwed on right. Don't forget, wear white on Oct 27th.

MyPC8MyBrain

When I was a kid, there was no such thing as a bike helmet. We rode in joyful bliss. The savy ones survived. The stupid ones didn't.

Now that we have safeguards [ie helmets] to prevent Darwinism from weeding out the stupid ones , they survive to reproduce.

This is the overall trend of society... build in safeguards to prevent the stupid ones from killing themselves. When stupid is allowed to reproduce, our civilation gets stupider. Ponder that one for a bit. Most things imposed by our leaders are to prevent stupid people from killing themselves.

In the end, I wear a helmet in my attempt to deny Darwin his way. Call me stupid. :-)

acroy

always a helmet - unless, like you, i mess up and leave it somewhere. then i'm 50/50 spilt wheather to drive or ride... i usually end up riding but being VERY careful.

i think 80% of cyclist deaths are head injuries to cyclists NOT wearing a helmet? someone have the stats handy??

aley

I wear mine just about every time I get on the bike, even when I'm just going up and down the street after adjusting things on the bike. I occasionally feel silly doing it, but I've got a four-year-old and a two-year-old and want to set a good example for them. When they're older than can use good judgement to decide when they ought to wear a helmet, but when they're small the judgement isn't developed yet. (Come to think of it, my judgement developed when I was about 25. )

When the kids aren't around I tend to wear the helmet any time I'm going to be going more an a quarter mile or more than ten miles an hour, which is most of the time. I'm so used to wearing a helmet that I feel naked without it - sort of like that exposed feeling of riding without any pants on.

aley

Isn't wearing a helmet just another way to be savvy? That's why I'm in favor of helmet use but opposed to mandatory helmet laws.

crtreedude 

Shudder - I am in the same category as Chipcom - but only in helmets... I don't go particularly fast on purpose and definitely watch what I am doing.

No one wears them here in Costa Rica. A helmet is about the same price (perhaps more) than most bikes. In a race, they wear them from what I have seen.

JR97

Helmets are for wussies!

Subsequently, I wear one most of the time. Not because I'm afraid of injury or anything, but being a family man, it's not too big of a deal just in case that 1% comes up. I've never commuted without it mainly because it's by the door with the rest of my commute stuff. But the times I forget it riding around with the wife or just out stretching the legs it wasn't enough of a deal to go back and get it. If I forgot it commuting, I wouldn't turn around.

FraAngelico

I always wear my helmet. Even when driving my car, or walking around the house. You never know when something might fall on your head, or you might slip and fall and hit your head on the corner of some furniture, or something.