alhedges

1. You don't really understand how science works, do you.

2. The immunization-causes-autism charts are not "just like mine".

3. There is lots and lots of valid scientific evidence that shows no connection between vaccination and autism. That is why intelligent people reject the idea that vaccines cause autism. There isn't any similar evidence for the efficacy of helmets, but there is a lot of good evidence that helmets don't have a statistically significant protective effect.

Dan The Man

...or not involved in crashes at all

bmclaughlin807

Had another encounter with the helmet nazi's today...

Riding around 9PM, fully lighted, someone going the other way nearly runs into me... she ran a red light, riding on the wrong side of the rode with no lights.

And she has the audacity to tap her helmet as she goes by.

I -SERIOUSLY- wanted to clothesline her.

Idiots!

closetbiker

no consequence, no lesson

Totaled108

Please, don't wear helmets, we are over populating the planet as it is. I say that but hope not another cyclist ever get hurt.

Both sided of this issue are getting nowhere, but making the divide larger. People are going to do what they do no matter what you say. As long as it's not hurting you or your family, let it go.

Lets work on the crazy, fat Americans and their even fatter kids. They are the people that are bringing down our crappy medical system, and making medical insurance more expensive. That is effecting everyone elses day to day life. Also, I can't go to Winco or Wal-mart, I need to carry a barf bag, seeing all the couples in their early 20s with 3+ kids and only stocking up on TV dinners using food stamps (your tax dollars). Really, this is America?? WOW!!!
And you are all fighting about helmets. We have bigger problems. In the mean time, I don't trust everyone in a car or on a bike around me, and I understand my skull is a little softer then cement or sheet metal, so the skull cap goes on my head. Do what you will, I'm the one smiling on the bike.

Yeah, I'm bitter. Peace and tofu grease!!!

Yes, I do like my guns, all 6 of them.

DigiK

To footnote some of the previous posters' sentiments, risk compensation has been scientifically studied and written about in peer-reviewed journals: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9183467
Study shows that humans will typially offset improved safety implementations with increased risk-taking behavior.

randya

Humans are also notoriously unreliable when it come to judging personal risks; for example, driving can easily be shown to be statistically riskier than both bicycling or flying on a commercial airliner, but almost nobody thinks twice not only about driving, but driving distracted, or blatantly violating the rules - that are, after all, designed for public safety - while doing so. Don't even get me started on smoking or other risk-taking activities that huge numbers of people willingly participate in.

The risks associated with bicycling are incredibly low most of the time, and unless you are doing some serious downhilling or other competitive activity, in which case I would recommend 'gearing up' proportional to the risk, I'm all for just cycling around in normal everyday clothing.

If you're so afraid of traffic that you need the false security blanket of a styrofoam bowl on your head, maybe you shouldn't be cycling after all; or maybe you should be working to retraining motorists in the real world, instead of whinging on BF about cycling without a helmet or trying to cram a mandatory helmet law down our throats.

king koeller

Please try to stay on topic...

Helmets save lives but only if you wear them...

I've been lucky in my 40 years of cycling. No accidents.

In 1974, when I raced in a criterion style road rally, the organizers said I needed a helmet to be allowed to participate. This was back in the no helmet times of bike hiking, bike flags, bell bottom pants, free love, drugs, and rock and roll. My friend let me use his leather skid lid which was nothing more than strips of leather. This offered minimal protection. Helmet technology has progressed so much from those days.
If Jim price AKA Sydney were here he would probably side with the helmet users. The Non-users are free to engage in their risky behavior, I just hope they stay safe. This is America, do what you want.
The only brain damage here on this forum is from the non-use of head protection.
My writing style is a reflection of my speaking style.
Have a great day of cycling everyone.

Widsith

If there is such a trend, I regard it as a return to normality. For about 100 years, the vast majority of cyclists rode their bicycles without helmets, and somehow the vast majority managed to do so without sustaining head injuries. Many of us rode for decades before we ever saw a bicycle helmet or even knew they existed, yet most of us are still here to talk about it. I started riding as a small child in the late '50s and have never worn a helmet, and I've never gotten a head injury on a bike; neither did any of my family, friends or acquaintances. Bruises, scrapes and the occasional broken bone were the worst that happened to any of us. I didn't need a helmet at the ages of 4, 14 or 24, and I'm not going to start wearing one now at 54.

Mitchxout

Preaching to the choir.

UmneyDurak

Actually they still do. At least in countries where cycling is not considered this "weird recreational thing or only for people who can't drive for one reason or another".

UD

meanwhile

I think the guy has a point. If he's not smart enough to understand a chart or the methodology behind it, how can he be rationally convinced? I admire him for being so frank about his limitations.

capejohn

I have a helmet hanging in my garage. I keep it for organized rides that require helmet use, but find myself passing up those since I realized the folley of wearing one.

I found that helmet use is directly related to roadie gear the rider is wearing.

Spandex=helmet.
No spandex=no helmet.

meanwhile

I beg to disagree:

closetbiker

I don't know. Under all that hair, there might just be a helmet.

Da Tinker

Hmmmmm, given enough mousse & hairspray, that hair might make a good helmet.

closetbiker

probably has the same "crushing" effect....

AlmostTrick

Hey Hey, my my
Helmet threads will never die
There's more to the picture
that makes us ride
Hey Hey, my my


You pay for this,
a styrofoam hat
Even if you wear it
you may never come back
It's better to ride safe,
than it is to crash...
Then you're out of the blue
and into the black.

My lid is on,
yes it's not forgotten
This is the story
of threads gone rotten
It's better to burn out
long before you're deep.
My lid is gone
but it's not forgotten.

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my

AlmostTrick

Hey closet, could you do me a favor and post that study about years of life added thanks to cycling verses year taken away? I have some folks at work that need to see it. Thanks!

meanwhile

Deliberate pun???

Anyway - I think you should look for a recording deal.

mrrabbit 

Yup! Right on that buddy...


Toe clips and straps are making a comeback...

Whitewall road tires are in the shops again...

Bent drop bars are appearing again...

Turned-up drop bars with suicide levers...

French thread bottom brackets...

Ajenkins

What is really scary is when people offset perceived safety implementations with increased risk-taking behavior.

This is the case with cyclists who substitute "helmet safety" for "riding safety." Cycling without a helmet is relatively risk-free, at least from severe head injury. Adding a helmet does little to reduce that already miniscule risk, yet encourages riders to engage in dangerous behaviors, such as running red lights. Looking at the research from that point of view, there may be another reason aside from decreased cycling popularity that studies show increased risk of injury associated with helmet mandates.

GodsBassist

If it's the one I'm thinking about, I think that study was as much about claiming cycling doesn't affect energy usage as longevity. The longevity argument was interesting, though.


Is this it?
https://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~ulric...viro-jul06.pdf

closetbiker

There's lots of studies that show cycling adds to life rather than taking it away.

Common sense tells us that the benefits of the type of exercise cycling provides combats what most often kills us. As much as people worry about death through trauma, trauma only accounts for about 4% of what kills us (and about half of all those deaths are from motor vehicle collisions).

I found Mayer Hillmans work to be most intriguing. He took each cycle death in 1989 and looked at the acturial evidence as to how long a person of a certain age could expect to live and multiplied that by the number of deaths in each age group in order to arrive at a figure of approximately 11,000 life years lost in cycle fatalities. To calculate life years gained he looked at some American evidence of the increased longevity of those who cycled regularly and this showed that people could expect to live two years longer. When this is multiplied by the numbers of those who cycle regularly, as revealed by the National Travel Survey, you arrive at the extraordinary ratio of 20:1. In other words, he says, for every life year lost through accidents, 20 years are gained through improved health and fitness.

RobertHurst

... or more likely to show up for medical treatment after a minor crash, skewing the statistics.

neal, keep in mind that the ones most likely to be involved in the kinds of crashes that a helmet will help are young children. Also, increases in voluntary helmet use don't always coincide with any apparent decrease in injuries. A study in Sweden showed head injury rates among adults rising as helmets became more popular.