Branko D

The energy of a crash goes up with the square of speed. It's highly not surprising that road cyclists going much faster who habitually wear helmets get hospitalized more often than commuters in the Netherlands who don't.

That says nothing about their efficacy because it is not an apples to apples comparison. On a road ride at 32 km/hr versus a commute at 20 km/hr, the kinetic energy absorbed by your body in an impact is
​​​​​2.56 times greater.

To derive the conclusion that helmets are cosmetic from a study which compares apples to oranges is wrong.
​​​​​​

nomadmax 

I have to say thank you to my fellow BF members for the outright belly laughs you give me There are people here who could make a living writing comedy. The laughs I get from here always brighten my day.

3alarmer 

Seattle Bike Helmet Rule Is Dropped Amid Racial Justice Concerns

epnnf

Read this
My opinion may get me banned

rydabent

While I always wear my helmet, even when riding my trike, I despise all the little controlling laws like helmet laws.

Juan Foote

Yup, micromanaging laws like this go against the idea of freedom which this country is supposed to be about. Where I think helmet use is a great idea, particularly in certain situations, there is little reason to force it on anyone willing to take the risk going without one.

Iride01 

Seems like a missed opportunity to give out free helmets to those that can't afford them.

LesterOfPuppets

The helmet law in Vancouver, WA was used by police to target primarily homeless bicycle riders. Pretty easy to spot a bicycle rider without a helmet, and that makes an easy pretense for the police to harass the rider.

Inusuit

I wear a helmet except on some backcountry gravel rides. I think it should be a choice, not a mandate.

LesterOfPuppets

They did have some free helmet giveaways. They also experimented with free loaner helmet stations along the Burke-Gilman Trail.

zandoval 

I don't believe in Mandatory Helmets but I would never, anymore, ride without one.

"The King County Board of Health voted to repeal the helmet mandate because of accusations that the law was disproportionately enforced against people of color and homeless people."

Ok... I'll put in... Maybe this is the Right Execution but for The Wrong Idea. Did I get that right?

Whats odd here is the Health Board is concerned about a law being enforced. So they got rid of the law. Did I get that right?

Just everybody knows that in Seattle it is Unhealthy for people of color and the homeless to ride without a helmet. Naw... I did not get that right...

Am I confused?

livedarklions

Yes, you are. If the law is being selectively enforced against homeless people and members of certain racial groups, it's obvious that it's primarily serving as a pretext to harass people, and its enforcement has nothing to do with "health". It's also quite reasonable for the Board of Health to conclude that the likelihood of someone getting seriously hurt during a police stop is greater than the likelihood that wearing a helmet will prevent a serious injury, or that mandatory helmet laws don't actually significantly increase helmet use. Since they created the law in the first place, it's definitely their call to determine whether it should be repealed.

livedarklions

OK, so it's a bit weird that the Board of Health could make helmets mandatory in the first place, but I think that if you read this release, they've obviously come to the conclusion that making helmets more widely available is a better and less risky way of encouraging helmet use:

Seattle and King County update

There's really not a good argument to be made for the proposition that enforcing helmet use should be a police matter.

cb400bill

Latest helmet thread merged into The Helmet Thread 2

livedarklions

That's the thread equivalent of being shoved out of the airlock, right?

Not complaining, mind you. The framing of the OP already made it a bit of a train wreck.

cb400bill

It is where all helmet discussion belongs.

3alarmer 

...without this endlessly entertaining helment thread, the valuable expert discussions that have transpired on teh Biekforooms, with regard to the wisdom or foolishness of helment use in cycling, over many years, might be lost to future historians. I think we can all agree on the magnitude of that tragedy.

3alarmer 

.
...speaking of tragedy and helments, I have one that I have very much enjoyed using (as much as you can enjoy wearing a helment where the ambient air temps sometime hit 120* Fahrenheit). It was branded and sold by Smith, although I'm certain it probably came out of some Chinese factory somewhere in Asia. IME, it had excellent ventilation and airflow, which is important to a hot place road rider like me. But now, after a few years in service, the suspension liner is cracked in a couple of places, and I've heard that after a few years you really ought to replace them anyway, as the plastic and cushioning foam ages.

Wish me luck. I hate shopping for stuff like this.

3alarmer 

...yeah, I probably go through about three/four sets of helment pads annually, so when I buy a new halment, I only do so if I can get maybe 15 sets of pads at the same time. This last Smith was great, because when I bought it the company was pretty service oriented, so with a simple phone call, 8 or ten pads showed up in the mail for free, even though I was just asking where I could buy them.

I honestly don't get why the people who make helments have not figured out that the pads are consumables ?

soloman

Wear one of you want, but don't pester those of us who don't.

syarn77

I wear one about 90% of the time I ride. Sometimes it's nice to go helmetless depending on the conditions and the risk I feel I'm carrying without one. Railroad trails I usually roll without a helmet.

daniell

I tend to agree with the video.

Sy Reene

Interesting in that it ends with summary of other testing (other than the Va Tech) that shows no difference between MIPS and Non-MIPS. Perhaps related, I've always thought that there should at least be testing with dummy heads that have hair, or as many of us wear, skull caps of some sort -- both of which can move independently of your cranium.

PeteHski

You are never going to get a definitive answer on the benefits of MIPS (too many lawyers involved) and every real-world accident is unique in its load case. Personally I would choose a helmet with MIPS or similar tech. The cost difference is insignficant. Worse case scenario is that you are $20 worse off. Best case is that it does give some meaningful benefit in an accident.

Sy Reene

Or until testing is done with hairy dummy heads or skull caps, the doubling up of slip planes could conceivably be worse until proven otherwise. Heck even the scalp on on a real person can move 1-2cms independently of the skull underneath, but not on the test dummies afaik.