Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
The mechanical engineer in me says that a fall, regardless of horizontal speed, onto a horizontal surface (IOW, not a curb, lamppost, garbage bin, car bumper, etc), is a fall from 5-6 vertical feet.
In any case, I won't tell you to wear a helmet. You are convinced by population statistics. I don't trust them in determining the best course of action for me. Population statistics pertain to populations. Not individuals. I ride in pack situations. I know for a fact that the type of crashes that happen in pack situations are not controllable. When your front wheel gets swept out, there is no time for the body to react in the normal way to protect your head. I've fallen a fair amount in the course of the last 15 years or so I've been riding road bikes; it wasn't until I started racing three years ago that I started getting into situations where I couldn't protect my head in a fall.
Thus, for me, I wear a helmet (most of the time) because 1) I know the type of risks I expose myself to involve crashes where I cannot control my body position, and 2) my falls typically happen onto horizontal pavement, meaning a fall from 5-6 vertical feet, which is the type of crash the helmet is optimized to absorb. A helmet makes sense for me. If most of my riding were short, 5 mile, low exposure, non-pack riding, commuting, then I probably wouldn't wear a helmet . If my riding was solo training in low car traffic areas, I might not wear a helmet (I do, though it's just out of habit, not because I believe I actually need it). And I don't wear a helmet on my rollers (too hot) even though the risk of falling is similar to that of riding solo on a country road. But in a race or group training ride, a helmet is an essential piece of equipment for injury prevention.
And your points are well taken. Nevertheless many feel that it is the speed of cycling , 20+ mph , that mandates helmet use and I think it important to dispel this notion. The helmet is thus just as important going 5 mph around the neighborhood as 25 mph in a cluster of riders. One could argue, successfully, that the risks at 5 mph of being involved in a crash are less, still the possibility of bizarre accident still exists. Of note, in my 25 years work in surgery/trauma, I have had only one bicycling fatality. The cause- a seven year old boy was going maybe 2 mph, see sawing back and forth with friends after soccer practice. The bike toppled over and he fell on the upended handlebar, shearing off the lateral segment of his left lobe of the liver and exsanguinating from this injury. Go figure.