Zeuser

Helmets may not be 100% effective but in this case... head injuries... the damage would've likely been far less with a helmet.

mikeybikes

The real trick to surviving the crash isn't wearing a helmet... The trick is to not run into curbs.

canopus 

I don't need one on the road. I need one here on the boards to keep from crashing into the these stupid threads.

brianinc-ville

+1

eofelis 

My bf, a friend and I were on an evening ride last weekend (Niterider headlights and such) when a big racoon ran out onto the road right into the path of my bf's bike. Knocked the bike right out from underneath him. He hit the ground and was out cold for about 5 minutes.

He had a well fitting helmet on.

A couple of hours in the ER, CT scan of the head, and another CT scan the next day. He doesn't seem to have any serious injuries. Sore shoulder and brightly bruised hip. Still having some vertigo occasionally. He doesn't remember anything of the impact. He was jra one moment, and then someone (EMTs) were shining a light in his eyes the next.

Helmet has imprints of gravel, a chunk missing and compression from the impact. It did it's job.

MTBLover

Whew- glad your bf is OK! At first, I thought you meant the raccoon was wearing a helmet (helmet use provokes lot of sarcasm in this forum). Get your bf a new helmet- that old one is toast.

CB HI

I wonder if he would have been OK had he not been riding at night with no light, riding the wrong way and had sufficient riding skills to avoid slamming into a curb?

AaronJohnTurner

I wear a helmet to 'protect' myself from self-imposed, slow impacts, aaand I guess raccoons, had there been any where I live. I dislike the way media nearly religiously preaches helmets as a miraclulous injury-prevention tool however, and I would never expect it to help me in a car-bike collision.

eofelis 

LOL

He will certainly be getting a new helmet!

rumrunn6

anybody know what year they started wearing helmets in the TDF?

TomD77

A question about bike helmets from a new rider. I do have 1/4 million miles + on motorcycles though, all of which was wearing a helmet That's a good thing from my point of view because I wouldn't be here otherwise. But (you knew there was a but, didn't you?), motorcycles are of a totally different design than bike helmets, they go way down the back of the head in an attempt to protect the brain stem. If you read about bad injuries and deaths from motorcycle accidents, you will find that brain stem injuries are a prominent cause. I understand the limitations on the bike helmet due to mass, cooling and vision but I'm not sure of the point since they do nothing to protect against the most probably (and by a long shot) head injury.

But the average motorcycle wreck deals in energies MUCH larger than a bike. I notice you guys don't exactly wear leathers either.

I've been doing this for just shy of a month and have put a little over 200 miles on my bike and have yet to buy a helmet. Also it's hotter than h*** here in Florida.

So, are they really necessary?

Covalent Jello

Only dumbasses don't wear helmets, plain and simple

Greyryder

Oh, here we go again. Some of us haven't developed unrealistic expectations of bicycle helmets, have weighed the merits and disadvantages of helmets, have chosen not wear them, and now the insults start again. Yet, somehow, we're the irrational ones?

Covalent Jello

I don't really care if you don't wear a helmet, it's just a dumbass thing to do.

Greyryder

No it's not. But throwing insults around is.

Unreasonable

From reading on these boards, I've become curious what exactly the stance of people not wanting helmets is.

Is it a problem when people propose helmet laws? Because that makes sense. But is it that you're saying a helmet doesn't protect at all? That seems really incorrect...

What are the disadvantages of a helmet that outweighs the advantages of protecting your head if you hit it in a crash?

KtownDougie

If loving being helmetless is wrong, I don't want to be right.
Only dumbasses attach insulting names to those who exercise the right to choose bare headed riding.

AaronJohnTurner

How does one make such a definitive statement about a form of protection just based on shaky statistics and media over-inflation?

Covalent Jello

lol! helmets are a media conspiracy now...wow, im glad i traveled into this forum. a whole new world of ridiculousness that i had never come in contact with before. or maybe im misunderstanding you..i hope!

AaronJohnTurner

I am a helmet wearer, so for me to argue the rights of cyclists to not wear helmets without ridicule may seem counterproductive to some, but the media does often hyperbolize the effectiveness of helemts. Not to mention that when a helmet is tested for effectiveness and to meet national standards, a weight is dropped square on the top, or a weight is placed into an upside down helmet and the force is again brought upon the very top of the helmet, which is the least likely place to be hit in a real-world traffic collision.

I wear the foam because it gives me a level of comfort and hopefully some protection on bike paths or at low speeds. If we're going to call everyone who doesn't wear a helmet a dumbass, we may as well be calling all people who don't wear every possibe form of protection (chest and back armour, knee elbow and wrist guards, heck why not a mouthguard) against motor vehicles a dumbass as well.

Covalent Jello

Disadvantages:
It feels uncomfortable!
It makes me look goofy!

I often wonder if these people have ever fallen off their bikes and hit their head. Because when I fell and cracked my helmet on a rock, I learned you really can't control how your head hits no matter what you try sometimes. Landed on the shoulder and the head snapped to follow, had I not been wearing a helmet my skull would have been cracked, literally open.

But I guess looking cool takes priority over the possibility of being a drooling incompetent (bike forums bleeps out the R word apparently) vegetable in need of a human asswiper for the rest of your life.

That's kinda why I think those non helmet wearers are a bunch of dumbasses. I tell my nonhelmet wearing friends they are dumbasses too, so don't take offense. It's ok if you wanna risk being a drooling vegetable. But using the "it's a media conspiracy to inflate the safety so I don't care for them!" excuse is even more vegetable.

billew

The only dumbass here trolls on in and rips off the greatest hits of all the collected mis-informed posters that came before. Why don't you read before you make a fool of yourself by repeating old wives tales.
I have never had such trouble staying upright on a bicycle as some of you helmet nannys. But then I've probably got more years under self propulsion than you have been alive.

LesterOfPuppets

I only wear a helmet for certain types of rides. Same with ice skating. Same with car driving. Same with kayaking. Same with ...

Sure, bad things can happen when you're JRA, but I've found the probability pretty darn low on my commutes where I cruise along at about 15 mph. It's about the same, possibly even less likely to impact the head as jogging, IMO.

Luckily I'm pretty good at bunnyhopping curbs and hope that skill can prevent a tragedy like the OP. I can't imagine having such a freakout just 'cause a light changed, either. That's just plain wrong riding. Sometimes you make it out of a wrong riding incident OK, sometimes you don't.

Furry nocturnal animals can be a problem at night, since most headlights have a fairly narrow beam, you're riding with severely diminished situational awareness. Reduced speed would be a good idea and perhaps helmets at night might be as well.

I wish speedy and complete recoveries for the two humans and raccoon in the stories presented.

I do have a helmet and wear it for some of the riskier riding I do.

There are some around here that say standard bike helmets don't do much good. I'm not experienced or knowledgeable to agree or disagree on that point.

serra

I wear one for the unexpected minor things that can happen, like curbs and raccoons, or in my case, ground squirrels. I was a ninja and stayed on, but it would have sucked to go down without a helmet there, tons of gravel. If I didn't wear a helmet, I would probably still be here, because I don't tend to fall off my bike. The one time I did that was actually at a decent speed I mostly caught myself, no head contact. I figure it's better to be safe than sorry though, things can happen. I figure Murphy will get me the one time I don't...
I definitely agree with anti-helmeteers on one point: Riding skills > helmet.

BSB

The article doesn't say that he didn't have lights, so I don't know where you got that from - but even if he didn't, I don't think that it would have been a contributing factor due to that big bright thing in the sky that was lighting everything up! 38 minutes before sunset, 73 minutes before the end of civil twilight.

I agree with the rest.