Well, it was an innocent enough question. An invitation for a mutually respectful discussion of the evidence and yet so many replies are characterised by sarcasm! One poster didn't so much ask why I would get on a horse without protective headgear, but I don't do the same on a bike, rather he said I wasn't smart enough to do that on a bike! Another poster says the most he wears on his head when on a horse is felt, but he wears a helmet riding a bike. Just by way of clarification, even the quietest horse can unexpectedly spook and from a quiet standing start, can spin on a sixpence and bolt at potential speeds in excess of 30mph. Horses also rear, buck and practically turn themselves inside out should the mood take them. They can also do a lot of that When being worked with on the ground, so I also use a hard hat lunging and long reigning. I know I'm a beginner ad a cyclist, but I'm not aware of a bike or any other inanimate object that can do all of that.

I don't have a closed mind. Quite the contrary. I am a scientist and I tends to make a lot of my decisions based upon evidence. I was hoping for a chat about the evidence while I mull the issue over. I am taking seriously your accounts of your falls, but I must respectfully say to the poster who injured his shoulder and said that it could just as easily have been his head, that there is nothing to suggest that! The fact is we are all much more likely to impact out extremities in a fall, followed by much more likely to impact the wider parts of our torso ( shoulders and hips) than our heads, unless we are flung a great force quickly enough that we can't move our bodies in the air (instinct will always make us move to protect out heads). I was once thrown sideways 10 feet from a horse into a breeze block wall. The horse was travelling at speed and I hit the wall at speed. I still ended up with my arm in front of my face. My arm was badly damaged. It will never again fully straighten, but it did not impact my head. However, the risk of being flung across a distance will have me wearing a helmet if and when I ride on the roads. I have no interest in mountain biking, but that seems like an occasion to wear one two.

Those of you would want to take a patronising and sarcastic tone to telling others they are idiots if the don't do what you do. What is your real evidence (not anecdotal accounts of what you think might happen without a helmet) that wearing a helmet for the different types of riding significantly reduces risk?