Advocacy & Safety - Are helmet mounted lights dangerous?

That is, are helmet mounted lights likely to cause further injury upon impact either via impalement or snagging?

Warning. Living may be hazardous to your health.

gw

The helmet may get snagged, but the light will break free

I always thought so, hence I don't mount lights on a helmet. I don't have anything to back my stance up other than common sense. Came to this realization when I was mounting a robust metal BLT light, and the concept quickly lost its appeal. If I'm going through the annoyance of wearing a helmet, I don't see a point in counterbalancing any advantage it gives.

I also don't like the extra weight of a light on my head.

When looking around--especially shoulder checking--I think it blinded other drivers and that didn't sit well with me either.

I wondered about this myself. What if the light is secured so well it doesn't break off on impact? It might generate uneven forces on the helmet and split it open at the mountpoint?

I stopped wearing the light on my helmet for other reasons, however. It made the helmet unevenly balanced so it was always sitting crooked on my head. I looked funny.

There is indeed a slight hazard, depending on how solidly the light is attached. But quite frankly, I see a few advantages and many drawbacks to a helmet-mounted light for on-road cycling:

+ + it's possible to look ahead when riding a twisting trail;
+ + it's possible to look in the eyes of an inattentive driver;
– – it adds weight, therefore neck muscles may be a bit more strained (practise helps here);
– – on a bumpy ride, it wiggles; to prevent the discomfort associated with it one needs to tighten the straps;
– – it's nice to move the head a bit rather than keep it fixed. But with a helmet-mounted light, it means you'll have a moving light, hence a source of distraction for other people.

LOL. I love this forum.

Seriously, though, I don't think I'd wear helmet-mounted lights unless I were in a cave. Save the lights for your bike, brah!

I think the advantages are few, and the disadvantages are many. I use a bar mounted light.

You've forgotten the Biggest advantage of a helmet mounted light:
It lets you see reflectors at night. Like the ones on other bikes, parked cars, street signs.

Reflectors bounce light back in the direction of its source in a usually narrow spread, so if your headlight is low on your bars, thats where most of the reflection goes, not up at your eyes where you can see it...

putting a light on your head illuminates reflectors so they shine back at your eyes...

In the event of a crash it will introduce either a point load or additional rotation forces to your helmet, reducing it's already limited effectiveness. It'll also most likely require replacing. It's actually illegal to affix things to your helmet in this country (and yet bike shops are allowed to sell helmet mounted lights - go figure), so maybe you should check that for your area too.

If you don't ever crash, you'll be fine.

You've forgotten the Biggest advantage of a helmet mounted light:
It lets you see reflectors at night. Like the ones on other bikes, parked cars, street signs.

Reflectors bounce light back in the direction of its source in a usually narrow spread, so if your headlight is low on your bars, thats where most of the reflection goes, not up at your eyes where you can see it...

putting a light on your head illuminates reflectors so they shine back at your eyes...

:rolleyes: Bar mounted headlights are no further away from your eyes than car headlights. The angle of reflection in most reflectors is wide enough that this will only be a problem if you're sufficiently close to it, at which point you're probably able to see the vehicle anyway.

That is, are helmet mounted lights likely to cause further injury upon impact either via impalement or snagging?I've found having a light on my helmet has helped me avoid getting hit by getting the attention of cars coming out from the side. I'd rather prevent an accident by being able to quickly flash a driver with my helmet light than have to actually trust my helmet to ptrotect my head after getting sideswiped by a car. The Light & Motion Solo helmet light I used to use had a "quick disconnect" feature designed to allow the light head to quickly snap away from the mount in case of an impact. I think it was meant more to prevent getting snagged on a low hanging tree branch, but maybe it could also help when hitting the pavement? Last night it was foggy and I moved my helmet light to my bar (giving me 2 bar mounted lights/no helmet lights instead of the usual 1 bar/1 helmet setup) because the helmet light bouncing off the fog was actually hindering my vision. I took it slower at driveways/intersections knowing it would be more difficult for drivers coming from the side to see me with both lights stuck pointing forward.

:rolleyes: Bar mounted headlights are no further away from your eyes than car headlights. The angle of reflection in most reflectors is wide enough that this will only be a problem if you're sufficiently close to it, at which point you're probably able to see the vehicle anyway.

But bike headlights are not as huge and bright as car headlights.
Try standing in the street at night with your bike headlight on the bars, vs removing it and holding it at your forehead.
The difference looks significant to me.

Helmet mount gets the light as high as possible, so that light beam passes over hills sooner, and gives drivers more time to see and respond to you. I've used a petzl headlamp set on flash for several years now. Have a helmet tailight too. Helmet also covered with scraps of scotchlite reflective sheeting left-over from "relector job" on bike frame.

I used to use a 20w halogen headlamp till the wiring fatigued and shorted/burned. I believe the teensy 2w led flasher on my helmet actually gets drivers attention more than std constant-beam bike headlamp on bars.

I've crashed before with lights. Since lights have plastic clips / duct taped, they go flying off in all directions if I go down. Was worried about having a AA cell lodged in my brain, but now seems more likely that it would be glass from a windshield.

how often do you intend to crash while putting your head into it?

a helmet mounted light has value with some urban riders as well as trail riders by allowing the rider to 'point' the beam wherever they want- for off road its great for seeing the corner line, on streets a rider can aim a beam right at the windows of a car on a cross street or oncoming with their left turn blinker on.....

I don't use one but have gotten a 1W princeton tec bike helmet light I was testing a couple of months ago that might find its way onto a winter helmet.

The new Minewt USB by niterider is a compact LED about 110 lumens, 129 dollars with the helmet mount and 36" cord. recharge at work via a USB cable.

That is, are helmet mounted lights likely to cause further injury upon impact either via impalement or snagging?

I ride 24 hour MTB races, for the sheer fun of it, and have several very bright lights on my helmet. A light snagging in the trees? Never a problem, touch wood (which I do often when racing).

Now, being impaled on a tree, that really hurts. :roflmao2:

But bike headlights are not as huge and bright as car headlights.
Try standing in the street at night with your bike headlight on the bars, vs removing it and holding it at your forehead.
The difference looks significant to me.

How much reflection do you need to detect a parked car or street sign? The difference in amount of reflected light from a light source at head level vice handlebars is insignificant to me.

The answer may be to put a lightweight LED array (bright white in front, flashing red in back) on the helmet, with a thin breakaway cable to a backpack-mounted battery pack.

I believe a helmet mounted light may interfere with the way a helmet works/absorbs impact, but what's the lesser of the evils? Personally, I think having a light dramatically increases your overall visibility enough that it trumps the danger it may represent.

I keep an LED keychain light ducttaped to my helmet. It's not bright enough to help see things or shine in motorists' eyes, but it does add one extra point of light that they can see, further differentiating a rider from the rest of the environment.
I use something like this because it's small, easy to use and never runs out of power.
http://www.chinawholesalegift.com/pic/Electrical-Gifts/Flash-Gifts/Flashing-Key-Chain/Key-chain-light-20113340835.jpg
(http://www.chinawholesalegift.com/pic/Electrical-Gifts/Flash-Gifts/Flashing-Key-Chain/Key-chain-light-20113340835.jpg)

The answer may be to put a lightweight LED array (bright white in front, flashing red in back) on the helmet, with a thin breakaway cable to a backpack-mounted battery pack.

Another hat lighting answer:

I think human mounted helmets are the real danger. The helmet would be much safer if it were mounted on a fence post or a nice park statue. Danged humans are dangerous.

I've noticed that all most all folks who use handlebar lights have them aimed pointing at the ground, sometimes creating the illuminated patch as close as 6' or so in front of wheel.
If the light is for getting attention and seeing reflectors and hazards ahead of the cyclist, then in needs to be pointed near parallel to the ground.
Of course for this to be effective to still see pavement hazards one needs a powerful light that will illuminate ground hazards 30' out with beam spread.

Al

I upgraded to a DiNotte 600L last winter, and tried it with both the handlebar and helmet mount.

The helmet mount is slightly less convenient, but I much preferred it for riding...primarily, because it allowed me to aim the light whereever I wanted it to go. I found this particularly useful when drivers came zooming up from side streets - with the helmet light, I could aim it right at the driver. Otherwise, I was worried the driver might misinterpret the handlebar mounted lights as a farther away motorcycle.

The only time the helmet mount was a problem was while commuting in fog. The reflection from the fog compromised visibility. For those circumstances, I recommend using the DiNotte on the handlebars, and wearing a Petzl 1 watt headlamp in flash mode on the helmet.

I concur with the rest of you:

It seems a helmet mounted light can compound the benefits of watching the other road users closely in that anyone you see is more likely to see you too because the light is shining in their eyes.

However, surely mounting a flashlight like the FENIX is the antithesis of a helmet. Bike helmets are meant to spread the impact as well as crumple in order to diffuse and reduce the acceleration of the head. A long hard object does exactly the opposite by concentrating and transmitting the forces onto a smaller area.

Although a helmet light seems like a good safety compromise, I wonder if there's really any point in wearing a helmet if you're going to wear the light because bicycle helmets are definitely not designed to protect from small hard objects being forced into your head.

I think the advantages of being able to see well at night outweigh the risks of having a helmet mounted light.

Better to be able to see and avoid crashes than to not see, then crash and say, "Thankfully, I don't have a light on my helmet for when my head takes the impact shortly from now. Weeeeiiiiii BONKK!"

I like light - especially when bicycling.

I don't use a helmet light.

I could additionally use a small flimsy plastic led , which nowadays are pretty decent. Use average glue , break cord or plastic screws (how these would be mounted without compromsing the helmet I don't know but whatever) . Watch for snag-points too so it wontlace. And put in the area with the smallest angles so it could possibly be moved out of the way before impact , tank armor uses these slopes so maybe it is useful here too. How much this makes a differen get ripped away in the firstpce in a crash vs a clean helmet I don't know but these steps seem commonsense to me

...tank armor uses these slopes so maybe it is useful here too.

Especially useful if someone fires an RPG-7 or some other shaped charge weapon at your head.

If the canary dies, I would think YES.

If you people would stop falling off your bikes, the helmet light would be no problem.:p

Especially useful if someone fires an RPG-7 or some other shaped charge weapon at your head.

People bicycle in Afghanistan?

People bicycle in Afghanistan?

Apparently some try:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-madden/biking-afghanistan-depart_b_102488.html

Danged humans are dangerous.

Speak for yourself :P

Especially useful if someone fires an RPG-7 or some other shaped charge weapon at your head.

The life-saving properties of helmets can handle them easy-peasy.

Another hat lighting answer:

OO. Aerodynamic!

People bicycle in Afghanistan?

Sure, why not? And don't need no stinkin' RPG deflecting helmet, neither!

Sure, why not? And don't need no stinkin' RPG deflecting helmet, neither!

No-one here's gonna believe that without some statistics.