macteacher

Just wondering if most people wear helmets or not. Some people at work do not ride and they cite the problem of helmet hair as an excuse. Most people in Copenhagen do not wear helmets, so im just curious what most of you other commuters do.

A. Yes (all or most the time)

B. Sometimes 75% of the time

C. Maybe 50% of the time

D. Only here and there 25%

E. Never

closetbiker

Usage rates for the general populations are fairly well known. Asking different groups might get different answers. What I find fascinating are the reasons people wear them, not if they do.

shokhead

Yes!

Grim

I have enough brain damage that I'd like to minimize anymore. My wife and kids kind of like me being around.


Edit:

It is sad but the trend I notice in my area is the helmet less riders are those that ride out of necessity and they ride on the side walks. They are the ones that seem to get hit and killed the most.

For instance:
https://www.ajc.com/news/cherokee/bic...ck-191494.html Guy was a Mexican for demographic reason I point this out. He rides out of necessity. Driver was making a right out of a parking lot so looking left. He rode into the side of them coming from the right. He was riding on the sidewalk. Low speed wreck but the rider died. It is quite possible he would have died irregardless as somehow the rear wheel went over him.

This happened last week.
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/22070301/detail.html Link is a little vague but from the local mailing list this is what happened. The rider I understand is Coke's captain for either the MS or ADA team and well respected. Driver made a left in front of him. Speeds involved should have made this the worst accident but Helmet did save him serious head injuries.

closetbiker

A little civility please?

Eclectus

I do. Gone down on my noggin twice, the helmet did its job. I've hit tree limbs, glad to have something absorb the bangs. I see people who don't use helmets, even an ER doc. We oldsters grew up without them. I think this is a choice item, like listening to music while riding. I don't think we should have laws mandating helmet use. Whether they are useful depends a lot on the type of riding an individual does. I like wearing a helmet, but I'm not going to denounce people who don't wear them. Riding is a series of risk assessments and adjustments. I think not wearing a helmet can be reasonably safe. On the other hand, I didn't let my kids ride without them, even after they passed the no-helmet-required legal age, when they were still under my roof.

closetbiker

AFAIK, overall helmet usage hasn't tipped the 50% mark except in areas of mandatory helmet legislation.

Even where there is a MHL, with lack of enforcement, usage can be 50% or less.

In my MHL province, only in the capital region is the law enforced and the usage rate reflects this. Elsewhere it's (about) 50%.

Ontario released a study on helmet usage and injury for children (MHL for children in Ontario) showing a usage rate of less than 50%. The same rate of usage as pre-law.

I have a newspaper article (predating our MHL) that has an interview with a MHL lobbyist who said that usage rates level off at about 50% without laws and that laws are needed to increase the usage.

When these usage rates do increase, it's not so much the laws, as it is the enforcement that increases usage rates. Most often, a few cyclists do start to wear them, but far more people simply stop riding bikes, resulting in a higher usage rate.

bmt074

Sure I wear a helmet - it doesn't really bother me to have it on so why not? So far it's mostly kept me from whacking my head into some low-hanging branches .

thompsonpost

Pavement makes your hair look even worse than a helmet. The choices you offer are rigged.

AdamDZ

thompsonpost

Same here. It's useless for defense against cars and/or trucks.

colleen c

It no longer about hair issue for me. I got wacked from a low hanging tree branch on one of my very familar route. Where the heck did that brach come from? It broke off from the tree after a windy rain storm. If it was not for my helmet, it would probably caught my hair and yanked my head back.......

Beside that, I also find adding some mini white blinkies on my helmet helpful. One facing left and one right. It gets me more noticed at night and easier to identtify as a cyclist. However, I'm not sure is that a good thing or a bad thing here dealing with CA drivers

(I think they speed up more, which makes my helmet less useful.....sigh... LOL)

akohekohe

I started wearing a helmet back in 1975 when the Bell Biker came out. It was considered very unusual at the time. I still see the occasional Bell Biker out there although they claim the Styrofoam becomes brittle after a few years so the helmet no longer works as a brain protective device. Planned obsolescence.

hairnet

I wear one most of the time. I know it's not some life saver, but it is a skid lid. When I was hit by car my helmet saved me from shreading my scalp.

Anyway, I've been riding in New Orleans all week without a helmet. No big deal, I hardly see anyother cyclists out here with helmets.

closetbiker

not a debate... but then again, maybe you're not debating, just saying. Just like if I were to point out all those cyclists with head injuries wearing helmets.... but I wouldn't, macteacher is just trying to get an idea if posters here wear helmets, that's all. Not interested in flaming. Just wants to learn a little something, unlike some others who might want to do something a little different.

This seems kind of like biology class in high school when the teach is trying to teach students about the human reproductive system. Always have some smarta** piping up....

mikeybikes

Asking Bike Forums to not turn a helmet thread into a debate is like asking the earth not to rotate.

MNBikeguy

You beat me to it. However I was going to say... like telling bees not to buzz...

closetbiker

well, there is a thread to debate the topic in case anyone does want to debate.

Blurting out incendiary comments to a question asked with respect to not do so doesn't really help anyone.

mustang1

I answered D, but I used to be an A. Laziness (and lately cold weather) has turned me in to a D. But mostly laziness.

mikeybikes

Funny, same here really.

I'm too lazy to try and fit my helmet over my winter hat, so I just forgo the helmet.

macteacher

HI folks,

From watching video's online I noticed a lot of Europeans do not wear helmets and they have healthy riding populations. So it was out of curiosity that I posted my poll. As for the options being rigid, well thats what I was able to come up.

As for myself most of the time, 90% of the time I wear a helmet...my personal choice, thats all. I am not dissuaded from riding because of my helmet. I know these topics can turn into debates, hence why I specifically asked that this did not happen. I think overall we are doing a good job !!!!


Keep the responses coming as I find the results interesting.

ddez

Some organized rides insist on helmets,so i put D,and we have a law for kids under (i forget) 18**********???have too wear. So when riding with kids i will so as to not cause any whining.

prathmann

Same here. Wore one on almost all rides for 30 years. Then I looked into the studies and statistics and now only wear one when on rides with clubs that require it.

closetbiker

I grew up without one. 20 years helmet free, then wore one for 21 years after Bell changed it's marketing strategy.

I believed the hype until I started to research it.

After much consideration (that included defying my MHL) I finally took it off last year.

DX-MAN

I'm an absolute helmet advocate; I ride sans helmet maybe 1x/year or less. My kids ride with helmets, or they don't ride.

I don't holler at other riders, even if they're kids. I don't support them, they're on their own. If they (or in the case of the kids, their parents) choose not to wear a helmet, it's their choice.

I have enough empirical experience to stay with the helmet. I think anyone with sense will wear one while riding. But, people speed, run red lights, turn in front of traffic too closely, do any of a hundred stupid things behind the wheel. I wouldn't be diminished if they died as a result.