closetbiker

Are you kidding?

Having a baby is the riskiest thing a person can do!!!

Far more risky than riding without a helmet.

mike

Once a helmet saves your melon, you won't ride without it.

I used to ride without a helmet until one day I had a bad crash... WITH my helmet. It saved my brain for sure. Now, I really am not interested in riding without a lid on my thoughtmaster.

mike

We all figure that helmets might not be all that important all the time. After all, people used to ride without helmets all the time - and we can't remember meeting anybody who was badly injured on a bicycle.

The thing is, we don't often meet people who were in bad bicycle accidents because they aren't around to meet - they are often either dead or in a nursing home or otherwise out of the mainstream.

When I was a kid, two of my friends got run over by a pick-up truck when they were riding their bikes. It killed both of them. Another friend's father was a policeman at the scene. He said that the one of the boy's brains were knocked right out of his skull.

You know, despite the impression it made and despite the fact that we were schoolmates and friends, I can't even remember their names.

chipcom 

I went head first into the back of a motor home once...got a big headache, didn't even consider that I should start wearing a helmet. Do you start wearing a helmet in the car after a bad accident? How about if you fall off your roof and crack your head? Off a ladder? In the shower? Diving off the high board? Hitting your head on the hood of your car when working under it and someone honks the horn? Do I need to go on? Didn't think so. So much for the thoroughness of that thoughtmaster, perhaps the helmet didn't totally save you? (I keeeed)

hannahmontana

Nods sadly.. too true brother.

TRaffic Jammer

I've managed to lessen my death grip on the handrail whilst going down stairs as well as being not crippled by fear of not having a helmet on.

closetbiker

isn't there a similarity of faith shown in helmets and in religion?

Is a prayer for safety as effective as a helmet?

Isn't there an element of evangelism, or "spreading the word" in faith and use of helmets?

Is it not enough that someone is quite happy enough with his/her own decisions, they're wrong and need to be shown the "light".

spry

both heads protected
Why do you ride wearing a condom?

rongarcia

Hey Lem, I checked out your artwork and liked what I saw, commented on one of your pieces.

MnHillBilly

It's like insurance. There are people who drive around without it because they don't like the hassle of paying the bill. Who does? But the ONE time when the stars align and they're hit by someone who wasn't insured themselves or they find themselves footing the bill for a wreck they caused, they'd rather have bothered paying the smaller bill to begin with.

Most people don't think it's a big deal until they've met someone who's been brain injured - doesn't matter HOW or WHAT they were doing to be injured. You may not even "feel" like anything's happened right away. Just because you walk away from something doesn't mean you weren't brain injured. Natasha Richardson would be the latest example that comes to mind.

The local V.A. where a family member works happens to be one of the "brain injury" rehab centers for soldiers in transition from Iraq. Needless to say, listening to their stories - the arguing about bike helmets even being questioned as necessary would make anyone feel foolish in comparison. What some of them wouldn't give to be in a position to type out an argument pro or con?!?

Murphy happens. Meteorites fall through roofs of houses. It snows occasionally in June in the north. People have taken "easy" falls from a bike without a helmet and sustained brain injury far worse than they "should" have done. People age, reflexes get slower, a pebble shows up out of nowhere.

Those who care about riding for a lifetime wear a helmet. Those who are ok with rolling the dice that nothing will ever happen, don't. Best of luck to the people who choose not to, but it's still their choice - though it's not for them to convince other people that wearing a helmet is exagerration or overkill. It's not.

*soapbox pushed back into the pannier*

Six jours

No, it isn't. If you pay for insurance you can be fairly sure it will help when you need it.

uke

Then for people who do wear helmets and are fairly sure they'll help when needed, it is like insurance.

mike

Heh heh.. I guess what you are saying, Chip, is that you don't learn the hard way.

Once when driving my car, I hit an ice patch at 20 miles per hour and then we hit a tree. Even at 20 miles per hour, our car was totally destoyed. We had our seat belts on, but both my wife and I went to the hospital in an ambulance with injuries.

The lesson taught me what just a little speed can do to your body in a crash. I often bicycle at around 20 mph and imagine what would happen if I went right into a tree or wall or parked car OR, worse yet, a car coming AT me. The only thing close to a seat belt or air bag on my bicycle is the helmet. I like to stack odds in my favor when possible, so I do wear a helmet.

Good health is a very fragile thing. As we go through life, we are lucky to avoid serious injury and disease. Many people don't even make it to middle age without some kind of life modifying injury or disease. It makes sense to do what we can to maintain our health and safety. Even cheap models of Bicycle helmets are so well made and so lightweight these days that it just makes sense to wear them.

I see my son ride his bike without a helmet - often riding no-hands. I can't stop him from taking these risks. He is young and still thinks he is invincible. Riding without a helmet is only one of a menajorie of risks he will take with his health. As he gets older and sees his friends fall and himself sustain injury and setbacks, hopefully he will quickly learn to protect his good health.

Ride without a helmet if you like. Frankly, I would prefer you keep healthy and safe so that we may meet one day and ride together in good health.

joejack951

Is this statement made with the assumption that a bad bicycle accident with a helmet on would have kept that person alive or out of the nursing home? You should look at more accident reports.

The headline could have been so much better if they were wearing helmets. "Boys run over by truck. Helmets crushed. Boys dead"

Do you seriously think a bike helmet would win versus a pickup truck?

I-Like-To-Bike

Serious (or rational) thinking is not consistent with fantasizing about the risk reducing powers of bicycle helmets. Zealotry is though.

closetbiker

believe in the power of prayer

I-Like-To-Bike

Here is a product for those cyclist zealots truly possessed by their faith in plastic totems to protect them. Can be placed on head or vehicle dashboard as appropriate; works just as well in either location.

closetbiker

a helmet is not even close to a seat belt (but perhaps if we pray enough, we might believe it is so)

I-Like-To-Bike

This is close to the bicycle helmet in actual risk reduction power. But it only works if Ya Believe in its Mystical Powers!





I understand that there are stories of Bibles stopping bullets and saving soldiers lives. Should be mandatory equipment for everybody, just in case.

alicestrong

Hey faith can move mountains...

Doesn't anyone remember the guy who had his head ran over by a truck and lived to tell the tale?

I think it was on the East coast...he posted pictures of his squashed helmet?

Here ya go...knarly helmet pictures, too.

PluperfectArson

Sometimes, I ride in the opposite lane going down the street with my friend. I ride with no hands while texting on my mobile. My friend freaks out to no end, and I only do this to bug him. Usually, I will stop and pull over on my bike if I need to use my mobile. Also, I only do this at 00.00 or later, when I know that cars are few and far between through neighborhoods.

closetbiker

and then there are other stories that show the opposite

from capecodonline.com

Man survives pickup rolling over his head

July 13, 2007
BARNSTABLE — A 43-year-old man was taken to a Boston hospital by ambulance yesterday after a pickup truck he was working on ran over his head, fire officials said.

At about 11:30 a.m., the Barnstable Fire Department received a report of a motor vehicle accident. But it turned out the owner of a landscaping company was working beneath a three-quarter ton pickup truck trying to fix it when the vehicle suddenly rolled. A wheel went over his head and shoulder, Barnstable Fire Lt. Ed Guilford said. "But he's in great shape," Guilford said.

When the rescue squad arrived to the Millway address, they found the man smoking a cigarette with his crew. He had a tire track across his head, significant "road rash" and a missing patch of hair to prove he had been under the wheel.

Tests done at Cape Cod Hospital revealed no internal injuries. He was taken to Boston for some plastic surgery on his ear, Guilford said.

alicestrong

...but the helmet guy's ears were OK!!

Hmmm...Helmet guy got concussed.

Maybe smoking protected non-helmet guy??

I-Like-To-Bike

Maybe he had a lucky rabbit's foot in his pocket. It could be true, good enough proof for a true believer in the power of bunny feet.

alicestrong

I prefer my vintage St. Christopher medallion. I see on eBay it is also appreciating in value...