Originally Posted by
rruff
It should be obvious, but I guess it isn't. I'm 99% sure that the helmet didn't "save your life" or even have much of an effect at all. Take a look at the *huge* number of people on this forum and elsewhere who claim that their helmet "saved their life"... if that were true, then *unhelmeted* cyclists must have a very low survival rate... or at least have a horrendously high rate of serious head injury. Oddly they don't. Oddly, it is no higher than it is for cyclists who *do* wear helmets.
Uh, dude, the number of cyclists who wear helmets in USA, Canada and Britain far outnumber the ones who don't. Please don't come back to this argument with accident numbers from mountainous Swedish cycling communities - urban/suburban America with its tons of vehicles and narrow, crowded bike paths is very different.
Brace yourselves BikeForums... Rruff is about to start talking about how he can safely roll out of any crash, and anyone else can with the proper training, and helmets stop you from tucking and rolling into a proper dive... while moving at 25 mph over asphalt. *eye roll*
Helmets may be limited in their functionality but in the right situation they can save lives. They certainly cannot hurt - if absolutely nothing else they make a rider more visible. End of story. Whether they should be legislated is one thing but I absolutely recommend you all wear one.
I personally know of a 56 year old man who fell sideways off his bike while standing still... he hit his head perfectly on the raised curb of the pavement, cracked his skull and died from complications. The truth is you can die from forgetting to unclip and falling sideways if you really hit your head wrong. Of course helmets don't help if a semi plows into you going 80, but nothing else will either.