Commuting - Always wear a helmet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujd6d1e8lcE

The only time I don't wear one is when I'm doing a check ride after working on the bike. When I do that, though, I only ride around the parking lot next door. for all other rides, I wear my helmet.

I've been hit twice. The second time I went down pretty hard and I know that the helmet saved my head. The helmet itself cracked, but my head was fine.

If I'm riding a stationary exercise bicycle, I don't wear a helmet.

Otherwise, if I don't have a bicycle helmet that is in perfect condition, I don't ride my bicycle.

I'm mixed. Most times I do, but there are times I don't. Road and club rides I always wear one. Riding around town to the market, beach ect. I don't.

I always wear a helmet on my commute or other trip longer than a mile or so away. I always wear a helmet around home, when my kids could see me. And of course on group functions that require it.

I don't always wear one on short daytime trips near my office to run errands or pick up lunch, or ride on a nearby path. Sometimes I just want to rebel against those who consider helmet use the first rule of bike safety. (I think it's maybe second or third, after such things as being visible and predictable and observing right-of-way rules.) And sometimes I just want to feel the wind in my hair.

Attaching my helmet light to my scalp proved too painful so the helmet stays.

The only time I don't wear one is when I'm doing a check ride after working on the bike. When I do that, though, I only ride around the parking lot next door.

The first time I got hit by a car was doing this, except it was doing loops around the neighborhood.

I wear a helmet on longer rides and commutes, and most of the time that I am in traffic.

I don't wear a helmet for bike paths and park rides, which I do from time to time with my wife... lower speed rides where not a lot of any other traffic is involved.

I tend not to wear a helmet on the local side streets when I am just cruising about just to get air, and stretch my legs.

Since on street traffic riding is what I do most often, most often I wear a helmet.

It really comes down to what mix of traffic and what speed I intend to be riding that makes the difference as to whether I "helmet" or not. I too enjoy the wind in my hair and recall the days when helmets just didn't exist for cyclists.

Anyone care to take a bet on how long this will take to degenerate into the standard helmet thread?
:p

Oh yes, I will always wear my helmet. I got hit this last summer, exactly one week after I got my helmet. The helmet was actually a gift from my mom; we were at a LBS and she convinced me to try some helmets on, I found one that I thought looked (surprisingly) nice, and she bought it for me. Thinking of family, they were always telling me I should wear a helmet, and my arrogant responses; I definitely hit my head and if hadn't of worn a helmet I would have been extremely embarrassed to say the least, or perhaps I would of had too much brain damage to understand the concept.

Anyone care to take a bet on how long this will take to degenerate into the standard helmet thread?
:p

I'm going to go with 7 posts from now. :beer:

5!

If you win, I get a beer. If I win, I get a beer. :p

I used to all the time, don't much anymore.

I used to when I had upright bikes, but I ride mostly recumbents now. Since going over the bars on a recumbent is pretty darn difficult to do even on purpose, I don't feel there's as much need for a helmet as I'd have with an upright bike.

The times I do wear a helmet, it is often more for sun protection for my head/ears than it is for crash protection. Once I find a good hat that can do that, the helmet will likely just collect dust.
~

That video was awesome

I will use a helmet on single track but not usually around town, on my local commutes it is just something I do not do. It is not to say the helmet has benefits but I must say I am in agreement with ken kifer (http://kenkifer.com) may he rest in peace. Helmets certainly have there place it is just not on my head unless I am in the mountains on an exciting single track.

I don't wear a helmet. I'm usually on the grass/bike path, never ride on the main roads, and hardly ever riding faster than 15mph. I don't see that I am in any more danger than if I was just running or walking. If I was more hardcore and riding in heavy traffic, high speeds, or stunting, then I'd put it on, or if rules or laws required me to.

nope. don't wear one. just don't feel it's necessary.

I wear a helmet when I'm on my bike. I tried to always wear one on my head but it looked ridiculous while I was in church during the sunday mass.

Only in the shower

Whenever i commute I always wear a helmet. Ever since I clipped my pedal and fell off my fixed, my helmet was the only thing that saved me. Besides, I dig the helmet hair more than the wind-blown look.

Only times I don't wear a helmet is if I'm going max 5mph and am riding casually on a parking lot/flat surface for a very short distance.

The only time I don't wear a helmet is when i'm not on my bike.

The day that I convince myself that the cons outweigh the pros, I'll stop wearing one.

Check my sig.

Was that a hipster? (yes, I know, an ass assumption, but I must know)

There should be a seperate forum about wearing helmets. It should have a sticky thread for the perpetual argument for and against, a "post a picture of your lid" thread, a NHJ (no helmet jackass) thread, and a HWJ (helmet wearing jackass) thread.

We all know helmets kill more people than they save anyway.

These threads tend to inspire me to ditch my helmet. Have not given into the urge yet.

These threads tend to inspire me to ditch my helmet. Have not given into the urge yet.

To me these threads don't inspire me to get a helmet or not get one, they just get me to think about the choice, which is all I can expect.

My commute is .3 miles. A car has no passed me on my commute since August. I rarely see a car in either direction.

I've got a 1-mile commute along a bike/running path, but it's very dark. I wear a helmet.

I've also got a wife and two young kids...can't afford to have a freak accident, causing my brains to be spilled on that dark bike path.

The Ken Kifer article (http://kenkifer.com/) brings up some good points that I've also heard elsewhere. I wear a helmet for the piece of mind of people who worry about me, but I'm not convinced that any statistics have conclusively shown them to be as essential as our common sense tells us they should be. I pretty much coast down hill .5-1.0 miles to the bus stop every morning, often with my helmet on, but just as often with it attached to my trunk, where I put it so that I don't forget it. But then sometimes I do forget it, and that doesn't bother me, either. Truthfully, if I find I've forgotten it, I'm not sad at all because that means the ride home with the wind in my hair will be that much more enjoyable. I just don't mention that to my wife. :)

There's definitely some terrain and weather conditions where I would feel more comfortable with a helmet than without, but there's also situations where I don't mind not having it, or even prefer leaving it behind.

I wear my helmet, under a little bit of protest, almost every day.
I used my helmet for the first time today.

I actually was thinking of wearing a baseball cap instead, due to a light drizzle that was getting on my glasses. But I wound up taking a spill on a MUP bridge and fell sideways; my head took the brunt of the impact, and the bridge surface took a good bite out of my helmet. Even so, I was stunned for a few minutes. I'm sure that without the helmet, I wouldn't have finished my trip. As it is, I didn't have any trouble finishing and continuing my day - but tonight or tomorrow I'm getting a new helmet.

No question.

Every crash I've had I've landed on my forehead. Buying new helmets is getting old.:rolleyes:

I land on my arms and wrists. Wrist guards would be a better choice for me. Still wearing my helmet.

My commute is .3 miles. A car has no passed me on my commute since August. I rarely see a car in either direction.

It ain't the cars that you need to worry about. I've been hit by a car...helmet never touched the ground. I have biffed 4 helmets, my wife has biffed one and my daughter has biffed one.

My 4? One was when I went off a water check, caught sweet air and forgot to hold onto my right handlebar. Went down on my right and got thrown over the highside and smashed my head on the rear left. Saw double for a few days over that one.

Another was when my dogs pulled me off my bike because one of them was deathly afraid of drainage grates. She stopped and I didn't.

Another was when I missed a corner on a street at a high rate of speed, caught a curb and did a perfect Greg Louganis on my head. Very, very nice layout with a pivot on my forehead, landing flat on my back.

The last one was when I was standing and climbing a hill on a miss adjusted bike. The gears slipped and I smashed straight into the ground.

Not a car in sight on any of these.

I'll keep wearing my helmet, thanks.

I'm unstable enough on a bike that sooner or later I am going down. I want the protection - I only have one head.

...I wear a helmet for the piece of mind of people who worry about me, but I'm not convinced that any statistics have conclusively shown them to be as essential as our common sense tells us they should be...

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on helmet use. Although, now that i'm accustomed to wearing one, i feel naked if i don't.

I had my front wheel slip out on me rounding a corner and hitting an almost invisible patch of sand last year. No cars within a mile of me. I wound up with 14 stitches in the lower part of my face due to sliding along the pavement, and a dent and scrapes (and a crushed visor) on my Bell Citi. That saved me from at least a bunch more stitches farther up on my face, around my eyes (and possibly rocks in my eyes, there was a lot of loose gravel too) and possibly a concussion.

I have a love/hate relationship with mine. I've never found one that's really comfortable no matter how hard I tried and they certainly don't do wonders for my hair. There are no points for style. But, I was almost hit last winter, fell off the bike evading the car, broke both my arm and my helmet. Head was ok, well at least as ok as it was before the fall. And the law states that my kids, 3 and 1.5 need to wear helmets, it's much easier to get them to wear them if I'm wearing mine. So I wear it, because my kids see me on the bike everyday, and there are far to many JAMs out there for me to risk it.

It's funny, but everytime I fall I use my helmet, sometimes more severely than others. Falls have seem an inevitability in my commuting, whether from ice, sandy roads or just being stupid and bold on wonky terrain (going WAY too fast on dirt paths with waterbars, for instance, cost me my AC ligament in my shoulder and a helmet).

I think if I felt like I could go my whole life and seriously not fall I'd put the helmet away. If all I rode were good, paved streets I might have such confidence, but I like to ride, man! I ride even when there's ice, even on dirt trails and I ride in any conditions any day! This means I'm going to fall. I've taken one big ice fall this winter, luckily at slow speeds, and I fell on my side sliding about 20 feet. My helmet bounced my head off the pavement like an egg in a hammock. Nice.

None of my incidents have been auto related.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujd6d1e8lcE

christ another helmet thread.

but hey, thanks for the stupid video! :bday:

When will people realize that helmets are there to.... sell more helmets!

When will people realize that helmets are there to.... sell more helmets!

...to people who fall and hit their heads ;)

And here we go! So, DJ, who won the beer?

I always win the beer. :p

I always win the beer. :p

Oh yeah! I forgot the deal.

I wear mine every time I get on the bike. I know that in the right circumstances it is going to be completely useless, but the other 99% of the time it may save me from a trip to the ER to get yet more stitches (I have had enough of them over the years) or get patched up from another head injury. Can't we all just accept the facts on this issue and STOP DISCUSSING IT for awhile please....

Chief

Anyone care to take a bet on how long this will take to degenerate into the standard helmet thread?

not long


Only in the shower

Maybe you should

http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/en/images/media_30aug2006_fig1_e.gif

according to a report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, falls were the leading cause of hospital injury admissions, seniors accounted for over half of these hospitalizations, falls were responsible for 80% of head injury hospitalizations in seniors and cycling accounts for only 2% of hospital head injury admissions. Women were admitted to Ontario hospitals for injuries from falls twice as often as men.

and from http://www.nsc.org/issues/ifalls/falquiz.htm

3) True or False? Most fatalities resulting from falls involve sporting events like mountain climbing or parachuting.

Answer: False. Fewer than 4 percent of falling fatalities involve sports. According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), more people died as a result of tripping on a level surface than in mountain climbing.

4) What accounts for the most falls that result in death?

1. Ladders
2. Stairs and steps
3. Slippery tile

Answer: b. More falling deaths result from stairs and steps, according to the CPSC. Beds rate second,
while ladders are in third place.

5) If you're over 65, what are your chances of falling?

1. 1 in 20
2. 1 in 5
3. 1 in 3

Answer: c. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), seniors have a 33 percent chance of falling in any year. Older adults are five times more likely to be hospitalized for a fall-related injury than for other injury-related reasons.

and check out this

http://members.shaw.ca/jtubman/deadhelmet.html


Since many people find anecdotes more convincing than math and statistics (even those this is the only really sound way to make decisions on such a matter), I have searched the Web to provide a collection of links to pages about cyclists who died with their helmets on.


These threads tend to inspire me to ditch my helmet. Have not given into the urge yet.

me too

Helmets just don't keep up with what people need on the road so you'll see all sorts of helmet mods...blinking lights, glow-strips, strap extensions to accomodate hats...caps, liners you name it!

If they wanted to sell more helmets...sell people 2-3 helmets with the right stuff on-board
1 winter helmet...not as vented, waterproof, hi-vis and lights built in...decent mirror that doesn't bob
2 summer helmet...like most seen today...hi-vis built and lights built in ...mirror

oh yeah. I forgot.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/22358.php

Pediatrics carried a review of patients under age 19 seen by pediatric neurosurgeons at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta between 1996 and 2002.

Sixty four of the total of 2,546 head injured patients treated had sports-related injuries. Less than 1% (17) treated had cycling-related injuries. Fifteen were golf-related.

golfing apears to need helmets more than riding bikes

Helmets just don't keep up with what people need on the road so you'll see all sorts of helmet mods...blinking lights, glow-strips, strap extensions to accomodate hats...caps, liners you name it!

If they wanted to sell more helmets...sell people 2-3 helmets with the right stuff on-board
1 winter helmet...not as vented, waterproof, hi-vis and lights built in...decent mirror that doesn't bob
2 summer helmet...like most seen today...hi-vis built and lights built in ...mirror

from
http://www.helmets.org/helmcost.htm

why would they bother with all those add ons (that cost money) when they sell lots at a production cost of about $5 - $10 each and get $50 - $200 + each?

can't really blame the manafactures for doing well can you?

and from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet

Are helmets needed?

Ordinary cycling is not demonstrably more dangerous than walking or driving,[10] yet no country promotes helmets for either of these modes (although there was an experiment in Japan with walking helmets for children, which demonstrated no measurable benefit).[11] Detailed analysis of hospital admissions data also fails to support the idea that cycling is unusually dangerous: a study in the UK found that the proportion of cyclist injuries which are head injuries is essentially the same as the proportion for pedestrians at 30.0 % vs. 30.1 %.[12]

[10] a b M. Wardlaw (December 2002). "Assessing the actual risks faced by cyclists". Traffic Engineering & Control 43: 352–356.

[11] Effectiveness of Wearing Pedestrian Helmets while Walking from Home to School, Tatsuhiro Yamanaka, and Arata Ogihara. Paper presented by Yamanaka at Melbourne Injury Prevention and Control Conference, February 1996

[12] Data supplied to CTC by UK Department of Health

if its more than the front gate, I have my lid on.