mconlonx

Oh right, "Look at the tables." Is that what you mean?

I thought you'd already posted -- and I missed -- some commentary regarding the three sources from whom you claim to have received affirmation regarding your take on that particular study.

And I assume if you had any other figures to show regarding helmet use and ridership rates in places without MHLs outside that French study, you'd have posted them. Yes?

mconlonx

You keep saying this like if two people were riding together, one with a helmet and one without, the magic styrofoam hat will suck out any aerobic benefits the hapless wearer might attain vs. helmetless rider who will reap their deserved aerobic uposhot.

Man, that makes helmet use a hard decision -- provides safety force-field which will keep user safe in high-speed collision with a cement truck, but defeats any aerobic benefits the rider might receive by biking. Hmm...

Prabuddhadg

Till three years back, I used to ride without helmet. More due to peer pressure, I started three years back. Since then, I have worn a helmet on every ride. Still, at the back of my mind, the thought kept lurking that since I had not hurt my head even when I crashed 15 years back at 40kmph, that meant I did not really need a helmet. Or that the helmet did not serve any purpose.

Last month, I was riding home after a 50 km ride, when (going over a speed bump) my front wheel came off and I went crashing head first onto the road. I got up and started putting the bike together, when people pointed out that I had a bad cut on my chin. I went to a doctor, had to get my chin stitched and all that.

Later, only when I looked in the mirror did I realised that I had some dark patches on my forehead and temple. That was when I realised that my helmet had split right at the front tip.

I would have hated it if that split had happened on my skull.

From that day, I am a firm believer in the helmet.

The reason why the wheel came off was most probably my carelessness. But then, in 25 years of cycling, one instance of carelessness is perhaps not avoidable.

njkayaker

That ends up-not mattering. If there isn't a downside and there might be a upside, then it would be a "good bet" (rational) to use a helmet anyway.

The idea is to avoid "false negatives" (not knowing about real downsides). There isn't any requirement to avoid "false positives" (false upsides) because there's no cost (no real downsides) to the "treatment".

(It should be clear to you that people often make evaluate risk mitigation based on the evidence available not the evidence you think is sufficiently reliable.)
But, as you agreed, that is not a necessary trade-off. You really need to make up your mind!

rydabent

I notice that few have any comment on the fact that cycling deaths have gone down and helmet useage has gone up. Dont you just hate it when facts trump "studies".

buzzman

Helmet thread statistics:

1779 total posts

72 total pages

Just 1 BF member 448 posts/22+ pages so just one poster with almost 30% of the posts!

The poll in this thread shows that 83% of the respondents wear a helmet and it would seem at least 62% wear one most or all of the time when riding.

Given those statistics it would appear this thread does not offer a particularly balanced perspective since the discourse is so dominated by so few. And by far the largest number of posts are helmet skeptic posts by the same people again and again. Waves of counter posts appear only to be worn down by the same posters over literally years of the same arguments.

This thread is becoming only of interest to those who engage in obsessive, compulsive internet behavior or those of us who are fascinated by it. As far as anything new about helmets....uh, nope, I could grab almost any post from the old "Helmets Cramp my Style Thread" and it would cause a spontaneous regurgitation of the same old nonsense.

By all means continue on I only occasionally visit this thread in the hopes of shaking things up a bit and providing any newbies with an alternative perspective to what is constantly posted in here.

Rx Rider

If you're really from Newton, MA, I hope you're wearing at least three helmets.

buzzman

Pray tell, why?

Rx Rider

I've just heard such scary tales from all over Mass. even that hippie lake area sounds scary. But it also sounds scary for motorist, so maybe helmet use while driving would be smart.

buzzman

Scary? Massachusetts? I love that my state has such a bad a** rep!

Yeah, we do have some really bad (aggressive) drivers but no worse than pretty much anywhere else for bike riding.

skye

I used to commute from Newtonville to the Pru or Cambridge daily. Best commute I ever had.

hagen2456

Highly improbable.

hagen2456

Sure does, or people wouldn't stop cycling when helmets become mandatory.

1) They're ugly
2) They cramp my style
3) They're expensive, and get stolen
4) Where did I put that fricking helmet????
5) You can't get one that fits, anyway

mconlonx

MA drivers are insane... when taken out of context. Within MA, if you're driving like everyone else, things work out fine. Also, cycling is pretty popular throughout the greater Boston area, so metro MA drivers are actually more aware of cyclists and more grudgingly accommodating than in many other locales.

mconlonx

Not everyone stops cycling where such laws are implemented. Places where such laws are implemented remain, worldwide, a very small minority. Even people who choose to wear helmets often fight against implementation of mandatory helmet laws.

njkayaker said nothing about MHLs -- why do you choose to drag that issue back into the discussion when it had nothing to do with what he was saying?

Closetbiker cited questionable figures from a completely unrelated French study -- do you know of any studies showing decreased ridership because of helmet promotion where helmet use is not mandated?

toegnix

I'm not here to change your minds, but simply to share with you that I regularly wear a helmet, but not always.

I always race with a helmet, both because it's a rule and because I think it's prudent. I typically wear a helmet when training, especially with groups of riders, but once in a while I don't when I'm on my own. And if I'm rolling around the neighborhood or to the local store, I probably don't more often than not.

You can always be safer but sometimes the safety comes at an inconvenience I'm not willing to put up with.

njkayaker

No one here wants mandatory helmet laws.

Harping on "mandatory helmet laws" here as an argument against helmets is dumb. Why do people keep doing it?

(Personally, I don't care what you choose to do.)

Monster Pete

This is basically the same as my view. Helmets are more likely to be useful in some situations than others. In road racing, and race training, you are riding in close proximity to other cyclists at high speed, making a bike-to-bike collision fairly likely. General riding in traffic to get somewhere, on the other hand, carries much less risk of a simple fall, and the case of a bike-to-car impact would be beyond the capabilities of a bike helmet anyway. You have to apply a bit of common sense really.

mconlonx

See, I just don't get this reasoning -- there's plenty of times when a bike to bike collision in a road race or race training situation could very well result in a crash which exceeds the capabilities of a helmet; conversely, I can envision plenty of common bike-car collision situations where the speed differential and resulting crash is such that a helmet may very well help.

toegnix

Helmets do not prevent crashes or protect completely from injury, they simply mitigate the potential head-related consequences of a crash/fall.

As the likelihood of a crash goes up, such as in a race, the power of the argument to wear one goes up.

Outside of racing, where they're mandatory, people get to choose whether they'll wear a helmet or not based on their comfort with the risk.

hagen2456

Sorry, but you don't seem to get it.

Njkayaker wrote that there "doesn't seem to be any clear personal downside to using a helmet", and I showed that there seems to be. Illustrated by what happens when MHL are implemented (and the reasons people tend to give for not wearing one).

Pure logics.


Edit: Among the reasons people will give for not wearing a helmet, I forgot "they're uncomfortable".

hagen2456

See my answer to mconlonx.

Rx Rider

And the hair! they totally mess up your hair.

hagen2456

How COULD I forget that one???

CB HI

rydabent